ABOUT US

Crossing Strings is an Austrian crossover guitar duo, consisting of classical guitarist and instrumental pedagogue Carina Maria Linder from Carinthia, and Vienna fingerstyle guitarist and founder of the Vienna Fingerstyle Festival Markus Schlesinger. With their debut album "Intersections," the duo has catapulted themselves "to the top of the European fingerpicker scene" (Concerto 6/22) and tours with concerts and guitar workshops in Australia, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In "Intersections," the ClassicalFingerstyle Guitar Duo presents original compositions, self-arranged classical, jazzy, and poppy evergreens, and two voices that uniquely complement each other in their colors.

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Press release:

A duo that couldn't be more different at first glance, a duo in which two seemingly completely different worlds collide. Consisting of Carina Maria Linder, who dedicated herself to classical guitar at the tender age of 8, achieved considerable success in various international guitar competitions as part of a classical guitar duo, and Markus Schlesinger, the internationally touring fingerstyle guitarist and founder of the Vienna Fingerstyle Festival, who complements this duo with his sophisticated original compositions and groovy arrangements of well-known songs.

The program of these two professionals in their respective fields is a varied mix of original compositions, self-arranged classical, jazzy, and poppy evergreens, and two voices that round it off with both impulsive intensity and playful lightness.

By bridging the seemingly disparate worlds, this duo immerses itself in a multifaceted symbiosis of classical, jazz, and popular music, taking the audience to completely new and unfamiliar musical realms.

The crossover duo is touring with their current album "Intersections" in Australia, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, and offers one to three-day guitar workshops. For more information, please visit the following website: https://www.crossing-strings.com

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Press Quotes:

"Markus Schlesinger catapults himself and his ClassicalFingerstyle Guitar Duo to the top of the European fingerpicker scene."

"Carina Maria Linder, although rooted in classical and chamber music, ventures outside her genre and plays/sings folk or blues with great empathy and virtuosity."

CONCERTO Magazine 6/22, Austria's specialist magazine for jazz, folk, blues, and world music

 

Biographies:

Markus Schlesinger is an internationally touring guitarist who has dedicated himself to fingerpicking for years as a musician, seminar leader, and founder of the Vienna Fingerstyle Festival. He masterfully combines bass, chord, and melody playing on his guitar and enchants the audience every time anew. His virtuoso repertoire ranges from sophisticated original compositions and jazz arrangements to blues and folk, and fingerstyle arrangements of well-known songs. Through entertaining anecdotes and lively interaction with the audience, his stage program sometimes takes on cabaret-like features. In recent years, his concert activities have taken him through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, and Switzerland. Markus Schlesinger is not only a musician through and through but also a master of his craft.

 

Carina Maria Linder is an Austrian guitarist and instrumental pedagogue. She laid the foundation of her artistic career with a music school education and completed it with Mag. Erich Lippitsch in Villach. She then studied at the Carinthian State Conservatory with Prof. Mag. Helmut Weinhandl and obtained her teaching qualification with distinction. She completed her master's studies at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz with Univ.Prof.Mag. Martin Schwarz and has been a teacher at the Gustav Mahler School of Music in Klagenfurt since 2017. Since then, she has been a jury member for "prima la musica" and a mentor for students of the Gustav Mahler Private University in the subject of "teaching practice." International competition successes were achieved in the classical guitar duo, which was praised by big names for its sound aesthetic, musical sensitivity, and special expressiveness. She also received masterclasses and advanced courses from great masters such as Paolo Pegoraro, Giampaolo Bandini, Anabel Montesinos, Judicael Perroy, and many more.