Our duo, the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel, was formed with the goal of exploring new paths and directions in the intimate atmosphere of the violin-piano recital. We have found common interests and passions in the music of the 20th century. Our aim is to present programs that explore the countless fascinating connections between composers, history and the power of musical communication. Within this context, many projects were born in the ten years we have worked together. Many of the key composers from the 20th century are overlooked in concert repertoire, in part because so many of these visionaries had foreshortened careers, falling victim to the First and Second World Wars. To bring these discoveries to light, we develop performance and recording projects. It is our goal to bring this pivotal music back onto the stage, so that it will again become a permanent part of regular concert life. We know that this is not possible without framing the compositions in a modern context. This means that the profound impact of these compositions should not to be presented in a historicized manner, but rather should open the doors to today’s world by being performed in the context of both the standard repertoire and the traditional chamber music recital.

A recent example of such a performance project was the world premiere performance of the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Paul Arma at the Konzerthaus Berlin. The work was written in 1949 and is as yet unpublished. We were able to obtain the manuscript from his son and were thrilled to be reviewed as the “sensation of the evening” by Deutschlandradio. It is this this kind of experience, to bring a completely unknown work onto the concert stage and be successful in communicating its immense strength and value, that makes our work together so rewarding and worthwhile. 

We are both experienced and seasoned soloists. Playing alone or performing a concerto is a very different experience from playing and performing as a team. As a duo one has the privilege and challenge of constant feedback during rehearsal, which feeds mutual inspiration and pushes us to limits, technically and artistically, one may not be able to imagine or achieve alone. This is, essentially, what makes this partnership so special to both of us and what makes the resulting performances so rewarding.

Engaging and imaginative programming is a hallmark of the Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel. Individually, Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel are seasoned soloists who have won acclaim for their performances across the globe. Together they create connections, tell untold stories, and take audiences on a journey to the heart of chamber music. A recent world premiere performance of the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Paul Arma at the Konzerthaus Berlin was hailed as the “sensation of the evening” by Deutschlandfunk - “there was an intensity in the performance that no one in the audience could escape."

The Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel regularly participates in the world’s renowned concert series and festivals, such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the festival “Voix Etouffées” in Paris, the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerten, the “New Faces,” the “New Music Festival” in Krakow, under the auspices of the Associazione Culturale “Maestro Rodolfo Lipizer” in Gorizia, Italy, the Konzerthaus Berlin, and the Villa Esche in Chemnitz. In United States, the Duo has appeared in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Barge Music Festival New York, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, Music in Corrales, NM, the University of Colorado in Boulder, and in Denver’s Englewood Cultural Arts Center. For their project “Concert-Centenaire,” the Duo received the official designation “Centenaire” from the French government, an award given to help promote innovative, creative, and exceptionally structured projects centered around the centenary of the First World War. The project explores French music written from the Belle Époque through the First World War. A special focus was placed on composers whose lives were either heavily impacted, or even terminated by this calamitous conflict.

Their first joint CD, “En Hommage Simon Laks,” was issued in 2010 on the EDA label. Their second CD, with works by Stravinsky and Shostakovich, appeared in 2011 on AUDITE. It received a tumultuous international reception and was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards in 2013. Their three CD series “Concert-Centenaire“, that includes works by Albéric Magnard, Rudi Stephan, Louis Vierne and Gabriel Fauré was released in 2016 by Accentus Music. The recording of the two Fauré Sonatas was nominated for the 2017 International Classical Music Awards. In 2017, the Duo released the CD “Blues, Blanc, Rouge” on the Accentus Music label, which includes the Sonatas of Ravel, Ferroud and Poulenc.

Judith Ingolfsson and Vladimir Stoupel are the artistic directors of the festival “Aigues-Vives en Musiques” in southern France, which they founded in 2009, as well as the festival “The Last Rose of Summer” in Berlin. Since 2017, they curate two concert series: “Duo Plus” at the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and “Wednesday at the Institut” at the Institut Français Berlin. Highlights of their 2018/2019 season include appearances at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Les Rencontres musicales de Conques in France, Brookings Harbor Friends of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.