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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.

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 prizewinner of the LSO and the ENO and won first prize with the Brompton Quartet at the St. Martin's in the Field Chamber Competition. Emily was concertmaster at the Davos Festival, is a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra and the Mahler Academy and has participated in the IMS Prussia Cove and the Yellowbarn Festival. As the founder of the Seida Ensemble, she is the pioneer of a new project called music@work. She began her musical training in Austria at the Mozarteum under the direction of Igor Ozim and Wonji Kim-Ozim. She later continued her studies in London at the Royal College of Music with Leonid Kerbel and Daniel Rowland. After completing her solo studies with Marianne Piketty at the CNSMD in Lyon, she will begin her quartet studies in September.

Australian violinist Leanne McGowan has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. She previously studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with Robert Lipsett and at the Australian National Academy of Music with Dr. Robin Wilson and has been invited to international festivals such as the Kronberg Academy "Chamber Music Connects the World", the Gstaad Festival Academy, the Festival Academy Budapest, the Villars Music Academy, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Aspen Music Festival. She is the winner of the Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship for Violinists, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra Young Instrumentalists Prize and was named Most Promising Player at the Gisborne International Violin Competition, among many other awards. 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 Orchestra and the Camerata Orchestra of the Melbourne Conservatorium. An avid chamber musician, Leanne has performed with musicians such as Antje Weithaas, Gidon Kremer, Miklos Perenyi, Henning Kraggerud, Philippe Graffin, Arnaud Sussman and Tessa Lark. She has also toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and regularly fills in with the Berlin Philharmonic. Leanne is a curious musician who enjoys experimenting with improvisation and has a penchant for many different genres of music and art. She has been invited to play with groups such as the Stegreif Orchester, which pushes the boundaries of classical music and combines improvisation with different styles. She is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik Berlin with Professor Stephan Picard. She has also been taught by musicians such as Ana Chumanchenco, Christoph Poppen, Mihaela Martin, Kolja Blacher, Kristof Barati and Vadim Gluzman.

In 2025, Matteo Cimatti was a prizewinner in the international auditions of the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT). Raised in Italy, Matteo now lives in London and Switzerland. In 2024, Matteo graduated from the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland, where he most recently studied with Janine Jansen and Tomo Keller. As a soloist, he has performed with several orchestras, including the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and played at numerous festivals and concert series such as the Sion Festival, the Amici della Musica di Firenze, the Festival dei Due Mondi, the Musikdorf Ernen and the Ticino Music Festival, to name but a few. Matteo was recently awarded prizes from the Rahn Kulturfonds and the Concours d'Interprétation Musicale de Lausanne. He has won prizes in numerous competitions, including the Premio Postacchini International Violin Competition and the Premio Crescendo Competition. Passionate about chamber music since his earliest childhood, Matteo devotes himself intensively and diversely to performing as a chamber musician. He is a founding member of the Wendel Quartet, a piano quartet based in Basel.

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 received his first cello lessons at the age of 4 with Elizabeth Anderson. He joined Wells Cathedral School as a chorister at the age of 8 and transferred to Purcell School in 2013 to study cello with Alexander Boyarsky. In 2016, Willard joined the junior department of the Royal College of Music to further his chamber music studies. In 2018 Willard began studying with Ivan Monighetti at the Escuela de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid and from 2023 he will study at the Barenboim-Said Akademie with Frans Helmerson. In January 2024, Willard played at the Berlin Konzerthaus as part of the Hope@Home series. In July 2023 he played his first solo concert at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and in November 2023 he was invited to the Radio Classique Festival in St. Malo for the second time in a row. Willard has performed as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival and the Gstaad New Year's Festival and has given concerts at venues such as Wigmore Hall, Buckingham Palace, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Windsor Castle. In May 2019, he performed at Buckingham Palace for the second time, which was later broadcast on Classic FM. Since then, he has been selected as a "Rising Star" for Classic FM. In May 2021 Willard gave a recital at the Solsberg Festival in Switzerland, in June he played the Brahms Double Concerto at the Teatro Romano in Merida for the Queen of Spain, live on television, and in August 2021 Willard played the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra at the Gstaad Festival. Willard has been supported by exceptional musicians, in particular 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. During her studies, she appeared as the mother in "Die Katze, die ihre eigenen Wege ging" by Mike Svoboda and in the music theater installation "CHORA" with music by Claudio Monteverdi, Arnold Schönberg and Johannes X. Schachtner. She has performed as a concert soloist at venues including the Pierre Boulez-Saal Berlin and the Kunsthalle Mannheim. New music is a particular focus of her artistic work. Catalina Geyer is a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and was a scholarship holder of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie and Academician of the Excellence Laboratory of the Académie Villecroze. She received important artistic impulses in master classes with Thomas Hampson and Hedwig Fassbender, among others. In the 2025/26 season, she will make her debut as Roberta ("Los bohemios") by Amadeo Vives at the Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, as Rosina ("Il barbiere di Siviglia") by Gioacchino Rossini at OperaAugusta Augsburg and in the alto role of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion at the Isarphilharmonie Munich. She will also return to the Heidelberger Frühling in 2026.

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, theater and chamber musician. He has been a lecturer in the percussion class at the HMDK Stuttgart since 2024. 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.