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Since her debut at Wigmore Hall in 2019, German-Turkish violinist Ayla Şahin has been building a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and artistic director in Europe and beyond. As a prizewinner and member of Trio Archai, she won 1st Prize and the Beethoven Prize at the Schoenfeld International String Competition in 2025, 1st Prize at the 72nd Royal Overseas League Competition in 2024, the Tunnell Trust Awards Scheme 2025/2026 and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist for the 2025/2026 season. She has also won the prestigious Countess of Munster Trust Award, the Royal Academy of Music Concerto Competition, the Vontobel Bank Lyra Foundation Prize and the Brambilla Prize from the MusikAkademie Basel for the best final recital. As a sought-after chamber musician, she performs at festivals such as the Dresden Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Swiss Chamber Music and Schaffhausen Klassik. With the Cassadó Ensemble (Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Friends) she has performed throughout the UK, including at the BBC Proms, and recorded for Decca Classics. Ayla is co-founder of the VOLTA Chamber Music Festival, an annual international chamber music festival in the heart of Basel. As artistic director, she aims to bridge the gap between artists and audiences through innovative programmes and a modern performance space with world-class musicians. She has been studying in Rainer Schmidt's class since 2022, first at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and then at the MusikAkademie Basel. She received important musical impulses through her collaboration with renowned artists and teachers such as Leonidas Kavakos, Miriam Fried, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Thomas Adès at master classes such as IMS Prussia Cove. Born in Brighton, she made her debut with the Brighton Youth Orchestra in 2012 and completed her Bachelor's degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Jack Liebeck.

Born in Kiel in 2002, violinist Benjamin Günst is the winner of the German Music Competition 2025 and won first prize and several special prizes at the Max Rostal International Violin Competition 2024. As a violin soloist, he performed early on with orchestras such as the Kiel Philharmonic, the Karlsbad Symphony Orchestra and the Potsdam Chamber Academy. He is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Prof. Antje Weithaas. Having grown up in a family of musicians, Benjamin Günst enjoys improvising and crossing stylistic boundaries between genres in addition to his intensive work as a soloist and chamber musician. In the last two years, he has already performed in numerous concerts at the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival as a chamber musician, soloist and also as a pianist. He will now return to Heidelberg in 2026 to work on the creative program. He plays on a violin by G.B. Guadagnini (1756 in Milan), generously provided by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

The German-Italian violinist Chiara Sannicandro delights the audience with her expressive, sensitive and sincere playing. She has won prizes at international competitions and is much in demand as a chamber musician. Notable successes include prizes at the 27th Brahms Competition and the prestigious Joseph Joachim Competition 2021. Chiara has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the NDR Hannover, the Camerata Bern, the Göttinger Symphonieorchester and the Philharmonie Salzburg and has taken part in festivals such as the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Davos Festival and the Lockenhaus Festival. Her chamber music partners have included Gidon Kremer, Vilde Frang, Antje Weithaas, Yura Lee, Daniel Müller-Schott, Jens Peter Maintz and Enrico Pace. At the age of 9, Chiara was accepted into the Pre-College program at the Mozarteum Salzburg, where she studied with Klara Flieder. She continued her studies at the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington with Mauricio Fuks and at the Musik Akademie Basel with Rainer Schmidt. She is currently in the class of Antje Weithaas at Hanns Eisler Berlin. Chiara plays a violin by Matteo Goffriller, 1723, on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Emily Turkanik is a violinist, co-founder of the Seida Ensemble and initiator of the "music@work" project. She feels as much at home on stage as behind the camera and brings a double passion to her musical life, combining her art as a performer with her love of photographing musicians.

Emily war bereits mit Konzerten und selbstkuratierten Programmen bei namhaften Festivals zu Gast, darunter das Festival Hohe Tauern, der Heidelberger Frühling und Yellowbarn, und nahm am renommierten IMS Prussia Cove teil. Sie war Konzertmeisterin beim Davos Festival und Mitglied sowohl des Verbier Festival Orchestra als auch der Mahler Academy.

Her training began in Austria at the Mozarteum Salzburg under the direction of Igor Ozim. She then studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Leonid Kerbel and Daniel Rowland.

She is currently studying with the "Quatuor Dahlia" at the CNSMD de Lyon, is enrolled in the ProQuartet residency program and is also an academist with concerto21. She has won scholarships from the London Symphony Orchestra and the English National Opera as well as first prize at the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Music Competition with the Brompton Quartet.

Australian violinist Leanne McGowan has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician and has been invited to festivals such as the Kronberg Academy with the programme "Chamber Music Connects the World", the Gstaad Academy Festival, the Ozawa Academy, the Festival Academy Budapest, the Villars Music Academy, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Aspen Music Festival and Chisel Creek Classical.

Her chamber music partners include musical personalities such as Antje Weithaas, Gidon Kremer, Miklós Perényi, Nicolas Altstaedt, Henning Kraggerud, Tatjana Masurenko, Arnaud Sussman and Tessa Lark.

She is a winner of the Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship for Violinists, the Young Instrumentalists Prize of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and was awarded "Most Promising Player" at the Gisborne International Violin Competition - among numerous other prizes.

She has performed as a soloist with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra, the Preston Symphony Orchestra, the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Youth Symphony and the Melbourne Conservatorium Camerata Orchestra, among others.

A dedicated and versatile chamber musician with broad artistic interests, Leanne performs regularly with ensembles such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

She is also a curious musician who enjoys experimenting with improvisation and living out her passion for different musical genres and art forms. She has also been invited to perform with ensembles such as the Stegreif Orchester, which pushes the boundaries of classical music and combines improvisation with different styles.

Leanne McGowan is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik Berlin with Stephan Picard. She previously studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with Robert Lipsett and at the Australian National Academy of Music with Robin Wilson.

Matteo Cimatti is an award-winning Italian violinist who has been praised by ANSA for his "sensitive playing and melodic, intense tone". Based between London and Switzerland, he has performed with several European orchestras and played at numerous festivals. He is also an accomplished and enthusiastic chamber musician. In May 2025, he was recognized as one of the winners of the Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT) International Auditions 2025.

Matteo has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the London Firebird Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and has performed at festivals and concert series such as the Sion Festival, the Bendigo Chamber Music Festival, the Festival dei Due Mondi, the Amici della Musica di Firenze and Musica Insieme Bologna. Upcoming highlights include debuts at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Philharmonie Berlin, a return to Wigmore Hall and appearances at festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling International Musikfestival, Musikdorf Ernen, Davos Festival and Beethovenfest Bonn.

Matteo is a nominee of the Burletti-Buitoni Trust and has won prizes and awards at numerous national and international competitions, including the Fondation Leenaards, the Rahn Kulturfonds, the Concours d'Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne and the Premio Postacchini International Violin Competition.

A passionate chamber musician since a young age, Matteo enjoys a varied concert life as a chamber musician and has performed with artists such as Janine Jansen, Enrico Pace, Candida Thompson and Suyeon Kang. He is a founding member of the Wendel Quartet, a piano quartet based in Basel, which was awarded at the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition in November 2024 and has performed at festivals such as Musikdorf Ernen and the Swiss Chamber Music Festival Adelboden.

Matteo completed a soloist master's degree at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU) in July 2024, where he studied with Janine Jansen and Tomo Keller. Prior to this, he completed bachelor's and master's degrees at the HEMU with Svetlana Makarova and Pavel Vernikov. Matteo was also mentored in London by David Takeno and benefited from lessons with other renowned teachers such as Miriam Fried, Mihaela Martin and Gerhard Schulz.

Xenia Rubin is a Vienna-based violinist who seeks new approaches to the classical concert. Her artistic work combines musical excellence with a holistic view of dramaturgy, aesthetics and visual design. She gained orchestral experience in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (2019-2021), as a substitute in the Vienna State Opera's stage orchestra and as an academy member of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria (2021-2023). In 2023, she won a temporary contract as third concertmaster in the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra Innsbruck and has since played regularly in leading positions, for example with the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra and the Webern Symphony Orchestra Vienna. As Creative Head of the ensemble inn.wien, Xenia Rubin not only designs musical concepts, but also the visual identity of projects - from posters and album covers to stage aesthetics, outfit and photo concepts. In this way, she creates concert formats in which sound, image and dramaturgy merge into a holistic experience.

Violist Anuschka Cidlinsky draws her greatest inspiration from making music together. As a sought-after chamber musician, she performs with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Gluzman, Valentin Erben, Rainer Schmidt and Jens Peter Maintz. She has performed at venues including the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and festivals such as Krzyzowa, Prussia Cove, Yellowbarn and the Menuhin Festival Gstaad. She studied with Thomas Riebl at the Mozarteum Salzburg and with Nobuko Imai in Amsterdam, and is currently studying with Volker Jacobsen in Hanover. She received important impulses from Eberhardt Feltz, the Hagen Quartet, Kim Kashkashian and Tabea Zimmermann. She regularly substitutes with the violists of the Berliner Philharmoniker and as solo violist with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic and the Luxembourg Philharmonic, among others. She plays a viola by Antonio Cassini (1690), provided by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Connie is an up-and-coming British violist who performs throughout Europe as a soloist and concertmaster and internationally as a chamber musician. Connie lives in Amsterdam and is a member of the Marigold Piano Quartet, which has recently taken the Netherlands by storm with concerts in the Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw and several appearances on Dutch Classical Radio 4. She works freelance throughout Europe with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the 12 Ensemble and the O'Modernt Chamber Orchestra and is co-founder of the Seida Ensemble. Connie has a wealth of experience in chamber music and enjoys putting together collaborative chamber concerts. Her artistic and conceptual approach has been greatly influenced by musicians she has played with at festivals such as Yellow Barn, Mendelssohn on Mull, Ozawa Academy, IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music and Zermatt Music Festival. She plays on a viola by Charle Coquet and a bow by Emmanuel Carlier.

Karolina Errera is an award-winning German violist with Russian-Dominican roots. She won the Jan Rakowski (2013) and the Yury Bashmet Viola Competition (2018), among others, and has won prizes at other international competitions.

Her debut album Songs of Rain with Lilit Grigoryan was nominated for the Opus Klassik in 2023. From the 2025/26 season, she will be teaching at the Barenboim Said Foundation Seville and is principal violist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin.

Her highlights include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vogtland Philharmonic and festivals such as Verbier and Kronberg. She regularly works with renowned artists such as Gidon Kremer, András Schiff and Viviane Hagner.

Karolina began her musical education at the age of four. She completed her bachelor's degree in Berlin with Prof. Wilfried Strehle and her master's degree with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule.

Gerard Flotats is an award-winning, versatile Catalan cellist. He moves between historical performance practice and contemporary music with electronics. In 2023 he won the Royal Over-Seas League Strings Competition and is part of numerous renowned young talent development programs in the United Kingdom.

Concert engagements have taken him to the Bridgewater Hall Manchester, King's Place London and the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, among others. He has performed at international festivals such as Yellow Barn, IMS Prussia Cove, SHMF and Santander Encuentro and has played with artists such as Daniel Hope, Gilbert Kalish, Roger Vignoles and the Doric Quartet.

Gerard is currently studying with Frans Helmerson and has previously won several awards at the Royal Academy of Music. A passionate chamber and orchestral musician, he was principal cellist of the EUYO and works regularly with ensembles such as the OAE and the Spanish National Opera.

With projects such as Re-imagining Bach, he combines classical music, electronics and visual media to create new approaches for today's listeners.

Based in Basel and Berlin, Australian musician James Morley is primarily active as a soloist and chamber musician, performing in all styles from early music to experimental improvisation.
James Morley has been a member of the Young Classical Artist Trust since 2024. His multi-faceted career includes solo recitals at Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Sydney Opera House, UKARIA and many other venues; tours of all major concert halls in Australia with Jean-Guihen Queyras; the world premiere of a solo work by Liza Lim; an artist-in-residence fellowship at Harvard University; guest lecturing at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt; being principal cellist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra; releasing an experimental EP with renowned bassist/singer Helen Svoboda; and performing in ensembles and at festivals in Australia, Europe, the UK, the US and Asia. He has studied with Nicolas Altstaedt, Thomas Demenga, Imke Frank, Howard Penny and others.

The 24-year-old British cellist Joseph Pritchard initially studied at Wells Cathedral School and the Yehudi Menuhin School. A former finalist in the BBC Young Musician category, he was awarded the Raphael Sommer Scholarship and the Elias Fawcett Prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition and won first prize at the Two Moors Festival Competition. As a chamber musician, he has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, King's Place, BOZAR, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has performed as a concert soloist with the Orion Orchestra, the Giovane Ensemble and the Dorking Chamber Orchestra; in November 2023 he made his concert debut in the Berlin Philharmonie with Capella Amadeus. His most recent orchestral projects include performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. Joseph is currently studying under Nicolas Altstaedt at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.

British cellist Laura MacDonald currently lives in Germany and enjoys a varied musical career. She studied in London at the Royal Academy before continuing her Masters studies at the Guildhall School of Music and the Hochschule für Musik Hannover. Her recent artistic inspirations come from participation in the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclass and Open Chamber Music, Jeunesses Musicales Weikersheim, Ensemble Modern Academy, ISA Community Lab and Whittington Festival. She has performed throughout Europe, including at the Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw and the Elbphilharmonie, as well as with chamber ensembles such as O/Modernt and Das Neu Ensemble. Laura is a member of Mad Song, a contemporary classical music ensemble based in London, whose debut album will be released in 2026. She is also a member of Trio Claudel, a piano trio based in Salzburg, which recently completed its first concert and education project in São Paulo, Brazil. As an orchestral musician, she has performed with the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the CBSO. Since September 2024 she has been a member of the Kurt Masur Academy of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra.
Laura plays a cello by Pieter Rombouts from 1720, which was generously made available to her privately.

The Swiss cellist Martin Egidi belongs to the new generation of versatile musicians who are passionately dedicated to the broad spectrum of early and contemporary music. After studying in Lausanne (Patrick Demenga), Berlin (Stephan Forck) and Basel (Danjulo Ishizaka and Christophe Coin), he was awarded the Migros Culture Percentage, the Orpheus Competition and 1st prize in the Paul Juon Competition (with the "Trio Zeitgeist"), among others. He regularly performs at festivals such as the Davos Festival, Musikdorf Ernen, Into the Open, Heidelberger Frühling and Oude Muziek Utrecht. He performs throughout Europe with Trio Zeitgeist and is a regular participant at IMS Prussia Cove. In addition to his orchestral activities, he devotes himself to contemporary repertoire (including with the duo "naïa") and historical performance practice. As a guest solo cellist and continuist, he plays with ensembles such as "Il Pomo d'Oro", the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Arcangelo and the Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble. He is artistic co-director of the Orchestre des Jeunes de Suisse Romande.

Willard began cello lessons with Elizabeth Anderson at the age of four. From 2018 he studied with Ivan Monighetti at the Escuela de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid and from 2026 with Antje Weithaas in Berlin. Willard has given solo concerts at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, the Solsberg Festival, the Radio Classique Festival St. Malo, the New Year's Festival in Gstaad and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. He has already performed in renowned concert halls such as the Berlin Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Buckingham Palace, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Windsor Castle. He has played concerts with orchestras such as the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Frexinet, the Torbay Symphony Orchestra and the Ealing Symphony Orchestra. In November 2025 Willard was awarded the VP Opus Bank Award in Liechtenstein. He has been mentored by many outstanding musicians, including Sir András Schiff, Vasily Petrenko and Jaap van Zweden.

The Heidelberger Frühling has become a musical home for the young double bassist Hans Greve. He has been a member of the Festivalcampus since 2023 and is also responsible for the general conception of the Festivalcampus as an artistic assistant.
Hans is currently completing his master's degree at the Freiburg University of Music after studying as an exchange student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris in the 2023/24 academic year. He has also been studying philosophy and psychology in Freiburg since 2021 and will complete a year abroad at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in the 2025/26 academic year, having already studied there on exchange at the Sorbonne Université. He received musical inspiration in chamber music from Claudio Martínez Mehner, among others, and in improvisation from Matthew Barley, for example. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra member at various festivals in Germany and abroad, such as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra. In 2018, he made his debut as a soloist with the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played chamber music with Mohamed Hiber, Marianne Piketty and Roland Krüger, among others. His concert activities have taken him to Brazil, India, the Ukraine and many other countries.
Hans is interested in interdisciplinarity and unusual forms of collaboration. As a member of the Swiss ensemble collective arte frizzante, he has already planned several concert seasons and interdisciplinary projects with dance and scenography, among others. In 2025, he also took over the dramaturgy for a concert by Podium Esslingen and co-directed the Volta Chamber Music Festival in Basel. Some of Hans' most formative experiences as an artist include performing Sacre du Printemps with the Bundesjugendorchester as principal conductor under Kirill Petrenko in the Berlin Philharmonie in 2019 and taking part in the production of Florentina Holzinger's first opera performance Sancta at the Stuttgart State Opera in 2024. He can also increasingly be seen on stage as a presenter or performer. Hans loves mountains, dance and electronic music.

Czech bassoonist Michaela Špačková made her debut as a soloist with the Prague Philharmonia at the age of 17. Her solo highlights include performances with the ORF Vienna, concerts in Tokyo's Suntory Hall and with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in John Williams' The Five Sacred Trees. She has been awarded over 20 international prizes, including at the ARD Music Competition and the Prague Spring Festival. Her passion is chamber music, often with rarely performed repertoire and in close collaboration with composers. At the Nouveaux Horizons Festival with Renaud Capuçon, she premiered Matthieu Stefanelli's Gaïa, der Schrei der Erde, broadcast live on ARTE. She also enjoys working across genres and improvising; one particular encounter was with pop singer Alli Neumann at the Elbphilharmonie. As a solo bassoonist, she has played with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, among others, and has worked with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim and Paavo Järvi. Michaela Špačková teaches at the Cologne University of Music and Dance and regularly gives international masterclasses. She completed her studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and CNSMD Paris.

Catalina Geyer was born in Karlsruhe and studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in Munich with Snežana Stamenković, Hartmut Höll and Talia Or, among others.

Catalina Geyer has been part of the Young Singers Project at the Teatro Real in Madrid since March 2026.

She has performed as a concert soloist at venues including the Pierre Boulez Saal Berlin, the Isarphilharmonie Munich and the Kunsthalle Mannheim. New music is a particular focus of her artistic work.

Catalina Geyer is a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation and was a scholarship holder of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie as well as an Academician of the Excellence Laboratory of the Académie Villecroze. She received important artistic impulses in master classes with Thomas Hampson, Anne Le Bozec and Hedwig Fassbender, among others.

In the 2025/26 season, Catalina Geyer will make her debut as Roberta (Los bohemios by Amadeo Vives) at the Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, as Zerlina (Don Giovanni by Mozart) with the Hofkapelle München, and as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart) with the Niederbayerisches Kammerorchester. In 2026, she will also return to the Heidelberger Frühling as a concert curator and artist.

Roza studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London (cum laude). In addition to her work in opera productions and as a soloist with orchestra, the winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition, among others, frequently appears in concerts and recitals. She has sung with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre under the direction of Antonio Pappano and gave a song recital at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In addition to classical singing, Roza has also studied jazz singing. She is also active as an actress and presenter and develops new music theater performances, including with her collective Opera Rebels, with which she inspires a diverse audience for classical music. Roza has already appeared on stage in several opera roles, including Hänsel (Humperdinck), Cherubino (Mozart), Tisbe (Rossini), Pierrot Lunaire (Schönberg) and Anna (Weill), as well as various roles in contemporary operas such as Bluebeard (Meijering), Penelope (Frances-Hoad) and Over Tijd (Van Tol). Together with pianist Julius Backer, she performs internationally with song duo recitals in which they explore the boundaries of the song genre. With their new recital "Crazy he calls me" they became finalists of the International Vocal Competition Den Bosch. Roza was a scholarship holder of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie 2024/25.

Johannes Wieners, countertenor, has long devoted himself intensively to contemporary music. He studied double bass, singing and contemporary music in Rostock and Graz and began his stage career during his studies. At the age of 25, he made his debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, the Graz Opera and the Braunschweig State Theater. This was followed by engagements at the Magdeburg Telemann Festival, the Neukölln Opera, the Semperoper Dresden and the Theater an der Wien, including collaborations with the Berlin "lautten compagney". Johannes is a founding member of the early music ensemble "Due sopra il Basso", as well as the experimental format "Äh-Musik", a music theater ensemble that aims to contextualize musical stylistic differences and hierarchies. Johannes is also active as a composer: in 2019, he won a first national prize in the "Jugend komponiert" competition and his pieces have been performed at the Graz Opera House and the resonanzraum Hamburg, among others.

Fabian Luchterhandt, who grew up in Heidelberg, studied piano (with Prof. Konrad Elser) and church music (with Prof. Arvid Gast and Prof. Franz Danksagmüller) in Lübeck, graduating with a Master's degree in both subjects. A semester abroad in Michel Bouvard's organ class took him to Toulouse. Parallel to his studies in Lübeck, he worked as an assistant at Lübeck Cathedral; during a two-year vacancy in 2020-22, he filled the position of cathedral church musician. In 2023, he moved to Freiburg for a further master's degree in music theory (with Prof. Ludwig Holtmeier) and piano improvisation. As part of his artistic-scientific dissertation at the international Collège Doctoral Glarean Freiburg/Strasbourg, he is investigating current formats of classical piano improvisation. He also teaches at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and the Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg.

Julius studied for many years with the renowned pedagogue Marcel Baudet at the Sweelinck Academy for Young Talent of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He later moved to the United Kingdom to continue his studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music in London. He is currently studying with Claudio Martinez-Mehner and Nina Tichman at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Julius received further important musical impulses from leading musicians such as Alexander Melnikov, Andreas Staier and Robert D. Levin. He has also won prizes at several competitions, including the Steinway & Sons Piano Competition, the Princess Christina Competition and the YPF Piano Competition. In the 2024/2025 season, Julius was a scholarship holder of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie under the direction of Thomas Hampson. Julius has been featured on the television program "Podium Klassiek" and has been heard on BBC Radio 3 and NPO Radio 4, among others. Julius plays in several ensembles, including the Backer Trio, an ensemble with his sisters, clarinettist Paulien Backer and violinist Vera Backer. He also has a permanent piano trio in Cologne, the Carus Trio. Together with mezzo-soprano Roza Herwig, Julius forms a successful Lied duo that explores the boundaries of the Lied genre. They give numerous concerts at home and abroad and recently reached the final of the International Vocal Competition in Den Bosch.

Magdalena Wolfarth, pianist and songwriter from Karlsruhe, believes in the possibility of change. The hope for a better future, research into the socio-psychological depths of our society and the desire for fewer evaluation mechanisms are currently occupying her artistically and personally. As a Dorothea Erxleben scholarship holder, she taught and researched the topic of stereotyping together with students at HMTM Hannover. As a participant in the TONALi stage academy, she conceived concert formats in Hamburg's schools and districts. Concerts have taken her to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the detect classic festival, the Oper am Rhein (UFO), the Liedstadt-Festival (Hamburg) and the Robert-Schumann Haus in Zwickau, among others. She studied school music, German language and literature, piano and song interpretation in the classes of Prof. Roberto Domingos, Prof. Hartmut Höll and Prof. Mitsuko Shirai at the Karlsruhe University of Music and in Tromsø at the world's northernmost university.

The percussionist Augustin Lipp is established in Basel as a soloist, improviser and theater and chamber musician. He has been a lecturer in the percussion class at the HMDK Stuttgart since 2024. From September 2026, he will be Professor of Percussion at the HEMU Lausanne, where he will take over as Head of the Percussion Department. He has received twenty national and international awards for his diverse projects, including two special prizes at the ARD competition in Munich in 2019, the first Kiefer-Hablitzel Prize 2021, the DAAD Prize 2021 for social and intercultural commitment and the Young Swiss Artist Prize 2025. He has worked with artists such as the sculptor Etienne Krähenbühl, the actor Jean Winiger, the puppeteer Florian Feisel, the aikidoka Léa Duchmann, the filmmaker Patrick Sims, the media artist Fabian Kühfuss, the cellist Martin Egidi and the harpist Tjasha Gafner. His close collaboration with object theater led him to use plants, flying lights, circus wheels and earthworms as recurring materials in his productions.