Ambassadors
of eStaccato

Clare Southworth enjoys a highly successful and varied career as performer, teacher and author, and is internationally acclaimed as one of the leading flutists of her generation. Her many prizes include, International First Prize Winner of America’s National Flute Association Competition, Winner of North West Arts Platform and Prize Winner of the Madeira International Flute Competition.

One of only a few flutists to have launched a successful career as a solo performer and teacher, Clare is in great demand to present concerts, master-classes and workshops around the world. Her flute has taken her to Europe, America, and Asia and she has performed as guest soloist for the American, German and British Flute Societies. She is renowned for her innovative programming, embracing a wide repertoire, combining both traditional and non-traditional genres and for her ability to combine performance with tuition at the highest level.

She has recorded four acclaimed CD’s, Sonatas and Classic Touch with her accompanist Tim Carey, Miyazawa Plays Caliendo and The Bad Tempered Flute featuring the music of Andy Scott.

Chamber music has always played a major role in Clare’s career and she has recently formed Caliente!, an exciting and unique trio with a line up of flute, tenor saxophone and harp featuring Andy and Lauren Scott.

Clare is recognized as one of the country’s leading flute teachers and was Professor of Flute at the R.N.C.M. for 17 years, a position that was offered to her only three years after Graduating. She has been Professor of Flute at the Royal Academy of Music since 2001. Clare has always had a great deal of contact with young musicians, teaching for many years at RNCM Junior School, Chetham’s School of Music and The Purcell School. She has been the director of the Just Flutes 'International Flute Summer School' for 20 years which has become one of the most successful summer schools of the last decade.

Other work includes being a ‘mentor’ for the ARSBMs’ Professional Development Course for teachers and Clare has also written course work for the MTTP teacher development course at Reading University.

Clare has recently launched an on-line learning tutorial called Flute Reboot to help you rediscover the joy of the flute and music making. Her books 'Flute Aerobics', 'Light Aerobics', 'Sequentials' and 'The Expression of Colour' have become key essential texts. Clare is a Miyazawa International Artist and flute editor of Astute Music. In her free time, Clare looks after her two children and husband Rolf, plays golf and cooks!

During his studies at the Royal Flemish Conservatorium of Antwerp which he concluded as primus of his academical year, Karel Schoofs became member of the Royal Philharmonic of Flanders.

In 1996 he was appointed as principle oboe at the National Orchestra of Belgium under chief conductors Yuri Simonov, Mikko Franck and Walter Weller. Since 2008 he holds the same position at the Rotterdam philharmonic under chief conductors: Valerie Gergiev and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

He is been invited for concerts and recordings with most orchestra 's and opera houses in Belgium and the Netherlands and he is sought after as chamber musician with ensembles like Oxalys, Quatuor Danel, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, I Solisti del Vento...

He also appeared at international chamber music festivals such as Storioni Festival and Schiermonnikoog Chambermusicfestival.

Karel Schoofs is also active in other culture domains: in Jazz-music with the 'Dowland project' and in the theatre productions 'verses of Live and Dead' and 'Watermusic'. In 2010 he made his debut as soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic playing music of Mozart and Bellini. He also played as soloist at the Festival of Flanders, with the Belgian Kamerfilharmonie, the Brabant orchestra and at the World exhibition in Shanghai.

In 2014 he will play the Dutch première of James MacMillan's oboe concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Karel Schoofs is member of the chamber music group MP21, which was founded at the music festival ARAM in France where he also gave masterclasses of oboe. He gives regularly masterclasses oboe and audition training at conservatoria and summer courses.

Since 2007 Karel forms a musical duo with Anneleen Lenaerts, solo-harp of the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Annelien Van Wauwe is one of the most promising clarinetists of her generation. She studied with the internationally renowned soloist Sabine Meyer in Lübeck, Pascal Moragues in Paris, Ales-sandro Carbonare in Rome, as well as with Wenzel Fuchs and Ralf Forster in Berlin. As an additional source of inspiration the Belgian clarinetist took part in master classes with Yehuda Gilad. Moreover, Annelien Van Wauwe has a great affinity for historical performance and studied classical clarinet with Eric Hoeprich and Ernst Schlader.

From an early age on she has won numerous first prizes, among them in Lisbon, Turin, Brussels and Berlin. Her victory at the 61st International ARD Music Competition in Munich, in 2012, was a decisive step on her path towards recognition.

2015 Annelien Van Wauwe was nominated New Generation Artist by BBC. She will perform with the BBC Symphonic Orchestras, play debuts in the UK’s main concert venues and record a wide repertoire for BBC3. During the same year her cd with Lucas Blondeel 'Weinberg Prokofiev Clarinet Sonatas' was released with the label GENUIN.

Annelien Van Wauwe has been awarded a number of fellowships and scholarships from organizations such as the Ad Infinitum Foundation Stockholm, SPES Brussels, Vocatio Brussels and the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund. 2014 she won the scholarship of the Fondation d'Entreprise de la Banque Populaire Paris. One year later Annelien Van Wauwe received the Klara Award from the flemish Radio.

Annelien Van Wauwe has performed at leading international festivals, including the Lucerne Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Kissinger Sommer and the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier.

As a soloist, Annelien Van Wauwe has performed with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Symphonic Orchestras, the SWR Stuttgart, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared in prestigious halls such as the Philharmonie Berlin, the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Tonhalle Zürich and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Annelien Van Wauwe is clarinet professor at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. For specific dates of the entrance exams, information about the international programs and applications, please visit www.ap.be. The entrance exam for Bachelor and Master of Music studies will take place August 23rd 2016. This years’ summer school of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp will take place from August 19th to August 23rd. Annelien Van Wauwe will be teaching at the International Musica Reservata Masterclass in Bruges from July 24th to August 1st 2016.

Hans Colbers studied at the music academies of Maastricht and Amsterdam with, amongst others, Leo van Tol and George Pieterson. In 1990, he graduated Cum Laude as a performing musician from the ‘Conservatory of Amsterdam’. Two years afterwards, he achieved the diploma of chamber music with the highest possible credits.

As a soloist, his performances with several orchestras at home and abroad include works by the hand of C.M. von Weber, W.A. Mozart, G. Rossini, F. Danzi, L. Spohr, J. Françaix, G. Meyerbeer, H. Badings, I. Strawinsky, J. Brahms, G. Finzi, and L. Bernstein. As a soloist, he worked together with conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Jaap van Zweden, Reinbert de Leeuw, and Neëme Järvi.

At the Dutch Opera Amsterdam, he performed as one of the instrumental soloists in Kopernikus by Claude Vivier (directed by Pierre Audi), as well as in opera productions by Theo Loevendie and Igor Strawinsky.

A devoted chamber musician, Hans Colbers plays in various ensembles like Het Reizend Muziek Gezelschap, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble, Ensemble Caméléon, and the Ebony Band. Additionally, he played with distinguished musicians such as pianists Maria-João Pires, Menahem Pressler, Rian de Waal, Frank v.d. Laar, Tan Crone and the Chinese cellist Jian Wang, and many more.

Furthermore, he regularly teaches master classes, like during the Festival of Oaxaca in Mexico. Tours have lead him to many countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He performed in concerts at large festivals like the Festival of Nantes, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Berliner Festwochen and the Holland Festival.

In 1991, Hans Colbers started as E♭-clarinettist at the Radio Filharmonic Orchestra and has been associated with the The Hague Philharmonic as a solo clarinettist since 1995. Subsequently, he often performs with numerous other large orchestras in the Netherlands, like the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1997, Hans Colbers has been employed as a clarinet professor at the ‘Conservatorium van Amsterdam’.

Vanoosthuyse is performing throughout Eastern and Western Europe (almost all European countries), Latin and Central America, the USA, Canada as well as in China and Japan. He makes numerous recordings on radio, television (BRTN, RTBF, VRT, VARA, NOS, Radio Suisse Romande, Lietuvos Radio, Magyar Radio, Czech Radio, Danish Radio, Radio Chili en Exqi) and CD (Sony, Phaedra, Gobelin, Aliud, Talent).

He performs with important orchestras (I Pommerigi Musicali/Milano, Lithuanian Chamberorchestra, Sjanghai Symphony, Lisbon Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, Symfonieorkest van Vlaanderen, B.R.T.N. Filharmonisch Orkest, Columbus Symphony, Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Utah Philharmonia, Lubbock Symphony, Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, …) and composers (Levi, Oundjian, Sondeckis, Laethem Koenig, Octors, Bailey, Brossé, Terby, Vandenbroeck, …). He's scheduled regularly on international festivals like the Festival of Flanders, the Festival of Wallonie, the Klara Festival, the Festival of Brussels, the Festival of Bourgogne, the Festival of modern music ‘Ars Musica’, the November Festival, the Vilnius Festival, and also in Paris, Washington, Chicago, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Madrid, Lissabon, Caracas, Santiago de Chile, Beijing, Osaka, Vancouver, ...

His preference to chamber music is emphasized by the by the many concerts with a variety of excellent quartets like the Vilnius Quartet, Simon Bolivar Quartet, Daniel Quartet, Chilli Quartet, Ciurlionis Quartet, … This way he has performed the quintet of Mozart over 50 times. In 2009 Eddy Vanoosthuyse started his own chamber music ensemble, where the base is formed by the clarinet and a string quartet. Added to that he, Vitaly Samoshko (first laureate Queen Elisabeth Competition for piano, 1999) and Michael Kugel (viola) formed a trio. Because of his passionate dedication to 'modern music' he's in contact with the most nominated composers of his time, to name a few: John Corigliano, Olivier Messiaen, Alfred Reed, Dirk Brossé, Scott McAllister, Jan Van der Roost, David Loeb, Wim Henderickx. A lot of these composers have dedicated work to him, or ask him to perform their new oeuvre.

He is the clarinet professor at the Royal Conservatory of Music Gent (University College, Gent) and a guest professor at numerous conservatories and universities (Indiana University/Bloomington, Simon Bolivar Conservatory/Caracas, DePaul University/Chicago, Lemmensinstituut/Leuven, University of the Nationalities/Beijing, University of the Arts/Osaka, San Marco University/Lima, Catholic University/Santiago, Arrizona State University/Phoenix, …).He's been the principal clarinet of the Brussels Philharmonic/Flemish Radio orchestra since 1988. Before that, he was the soloist of the orchestra of the Opera of Flanders and soloist of the Flemish Opera respectively. In 1992 he was invited for the World Philharmonic Orchestra (Georges Prêtre), in 1998 for the Symphonicum Europae (Millennium Concert of the Nations, Fisher Hall/Lincoln Centre New York). His oeuvre is versatile: from Mozart to music of today and tomorrow.

The Dutch ‘Gobelin Music Productions’ and the Belgian ‘Metropolis Productions’ asked him to start a new collection with masterpieces for clarinet. The ‘Eddy Vanoosthuyse Clarinet Collection’ was presented in July 2004 in Washington. In 1999 he founded the clarinetchoir 'The International Clarinets', an ensemble that has been formed exclusively out of (former) students of Eddy Vanoosthuyse. The group made 3 CD recordings and worked with: Larry Combs/Chicago Symphony, Wenzel Fuchs/Berliner Philharmoniker, Eddie Daniels, Robert Spring, ...

Eddy Vanoosthuyse is a member of different national and international juries. In 2002, Vanoosthuyse receives from the city of Lima/Peru an ‘Honor al Mérito’ for the high standing quality of his career. In 2007, the ‘National Chinese Clarinet Association’ gives him an award for his renewing work with clarinetchoirs. He is the artistic manager of the ‘International Music Promotion’ and the vice president of ‘SWUK’, a non profit organisation that supports young musicians in the beginning of their musical career. From January 1, 2011 Eddy Vanoosthuyse will be the first ‘National Chair Coordinator’ for the International Clarinet Association. In this new function he will coordinate the international sections (members in 80 countries, sections in 40 different countries) of the world organization of the clarinet.Vanoosthuyse exclusively plays the Buffet Crampon ‘TOSCA’ Clarinets and the Vandoren mouthpieces and reeds.

Vincenzo Casale (1981) is an Italian clarinet player and conductor, who has specialized over the past 10 years in historical performance practice with original instruments. He is much in demand throughout Europe and North America both as soloist and a chamber music player, and in recent years has been invited to take part in several projects as guest conductor and artistic director. He has performed in solo and chamber music concerts with artists such as forte-pianists Claire Chevallier, Boyan Vodenitcharov and Viviana Sofronisky, as well as playing chamber music with Sergei Istomin, Roel Dieltiens, Paul Dombrecht, Marcel Ponseele and Genevieve Soly.

Besides collaborating on tours throughout Europe and America in recent years, one can cite those with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, the Chambre Philharmonique, the Orchestra of the 18th century, Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, Les Agremens, Concert Spirituel, Il Fondamento, Das Neue Orchester,Kölner academie, Opera Fuoco, Philidor, Harmony of Nations, Ecurie et Chambre du Roi, Anima Eterna, Les talens lyrique, Bachorchester Hannover, Camerata Silesia, Cercle dell’ Harmonie.. with conductor as F. Brüggen, P. Herreweghe, R. Jacobs, T. Hengelbrock, J.C. Malgoire, J. van Immerseel, H. Niquet, G. van Waas, S. Standage, P. Dombrecht and E. Krivine.

He has also performed at a wide range of festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, Alden Biesen, Beaune, Leipzig Bach Festival, Klang&Raum Festival, AMUZ, MA Festival Brugge, Nantes, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, St.Riquier, Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival de Wallonie, Utrecht, Lockenhaus, Schleswig- Holstein and Sopron, Chivasso in Musica and Festival de Lasne.

His interest in contemporary music has led several composers to dedicate new compositions for clarinet to him (Frederick Devreese, Michel Fourgon, )As well as being Professor of historical clarinet at the Gent Royal Conservatory, he is Assistant Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and of Liège, and he has also been invited to teach in « Jornadas Internacional Musical Eduardo del Pueyo Granada », in the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, University of Middle East Ankara and the Conservatories of Torino, Milano, Napoli, Roma and Perugia.

As conductor and musical director is founder of TWIS ( Taffanel Wind Instruments Society) with international tours and collaborations (PARTS, dance international academy of Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker, the Festival of Alicante…) He has received invitations from the Hirzen Pavillon Ensemble Basel, the NJO: Dutch orchestra Academy and the orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp.

With regard to the future he is currently working on a new festival of dance , music and theater in Brussels: ARTONOV.

He also owns a remarkable collection of historical clarinets with many romantic French and German originals (Pöschl, Osterried, Guerre, Simiot, Greve, Widman, Lefevre…). In addition, and of a particular interest, there are different types of historical low and high register clarinets which he has used in various recordings.

Vincenzo Casale began his musical studies with the violin and flute, before taking up the clarinet at the age of 14. He obtained the musical diploma for clarinet at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Turin when he was only 19 years old, the first prize for clarinet and music theory at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the first prize for chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Liége. He has also studied at the Accademia Chigiana with Antony Pay, who was followed during his studies by W. Boeykens. Afterwards he decided to study chalumeaux and classical and romantic clarinet with Eric Hoeprich, in order to obtain a Masters degree in historical performance practice and historical clarinet at the Royal Conservatory of Den Haag. He has also studied conducting in several master classes and ateliers with Colin Matters, Benjamin Zander and Martin Elmquist.

He has recorded for the Harmonia mundi,Virgin classic,Ricercar Outhere, Zig Zag Territoires labels, and TV and radios stations such as Radio Klara, Radio France, Mezzo, Arte, Rai,VRT, Rtbf, etc.. Vincenzo Casale lives in Brussels from where he continues his international career.

Nuno Pinto studied clarinet with Saul Silva, António Saiote, Michel Arrignon and Alain Damiens in Portugal and France. He took master-classes directed by the clarinettists Guy Dangain, Walter Boeykens, Howard Clug, Robert Fontaine and Alois Brandhofer.

Dedicated a significant part of his work to chamber music and to contemporary music, being one of the founding members of the chamber music groups Camerata Senza Misura, Trivm de Palhetas and Clarinetes Ad Libitum, also collaborating, among others, with the Moscow Piano Quartet, the Ensemble Contrapuctus, the Ensemble Português de Clarinetes and the String Quartets from Lisbon, Aveiro and Lyra.

Nuno Pinto is also member of the OrchestrUtopica, of Grupo Música Nova and of Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble. As a clarinettist, Nuno Pinto participated in the premieres of the works of composers such as Cândido Lima, Christopher Bochmann, António Vitorino d’Almeida, Carlos Guedes, Virgílio Melo, Carlos Azevedo, Fernando C. Lapa, José Júlio Lopes, Nuno Côrte-Real, Ivan Moody, Carlos Caires, António Sousa Dias, Miguel Azguime, Moritz Eggert, João Madureira, Johannes Motschmann, Luís Antunes Pena, among others, and is the dedicatee of works by Cândido Lima, Luís Tinoco, Sérgio Azevedo, Ricardo Ribeiro, Telmo Marques, Virgílio Melo and Miguel Azguime.

Soloist with the Orquestra Clássica do Porto, Orquestra do Norte, Solistas do Porto, Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais and Oeiras, Orquestra de Câmara Musicare, Orquestra Artave and European Medical Students Orchestra. Also collaborated with the Orquestra Gulbenkian, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa and the Orquestra Nacional do Porto.

Participated in several International Music Festivals in countries such as Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, England, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, United States and China.

Together with the group Clarinetes Ad Libitum, in 2006, Nuno Pinto recorded Contradanza and, in 2007, participated in the film A Terra antes do Céu by João Botelho, with the group Camerata Senza Misura and in the album Torga – Retratos e Paisagens.

Nuno Pinto is professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo, in Oporto. He is sponsored by Buffet Crampon and Rico.

Fie Schouten, born in Amsterdam and still living there, performs in various formations at many different podia and festivals. She has performed all over the world and is playing on all the clarinets with a warm preferation for the low ones. She studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she received her Bachelor Diplomas in clarinet and bassclarinet and a Masters Degree in bassclarinet with Harry Sparnaay, Tom Sieuwerts, and Herman Braune. She has participated in masterclasses in Austria (Impuls), Germany (Darmstadt) and France (Pablo Casals Festival), where she had lessons with clarinettists Ernesto Molinari, Michel Lethiec.

As a specialist in performing new music, she can be heard extensively as a soloist and in chambermusicformations, oa with her trio To be Sung, her new trio 'Sonic Hedgehog' with Shanna Guitierrez flute, Wiek Hijmans guitar and in other formations. Many new pieces are written for and premiered by her groups by composers with very diverse styles and of very different backgrounds and nationalities. Free improvisation appears in many of the pieces.Fie Schouten initiated and leads together with Tobias Klein the Basklarinet Festijn, first edition: 2014. End 2014 she visited Helmut Lachenmann with her collegues Eva van de Poll and Keiko Shichijo to work on one of his most important pieces: the trio Allegro Sostenuto. In 2014 her solo cd is released at Attacca Records.Her other cd's 'Of Villages and Spaces' (KAIDA 2005), 'Amsterdam, de wereld' (To be Sung 2007) and 'Spielzeug' (bklar,acc,trb 2009) came out at Karnatic Lab Records. Schouten's duo Kaida received the Tera de Marez Oyens Prijs in 2002 (NL). It won prize for best impro at the International Gaudeamus Competition (NL'03), best windensemble at 13th International Chambermusic Competition Illzach (F'03).

In 2008 Fie played her first piece by Stockhausen, now she is a specialist.Fie played the solistic part as one of the 'Clownesque Swallows' in MICHAELS REISE um die Erde many times - mostly with the German Ensemble musikFabrik and in regie of La Fura dels Baus, but also with the Dutch ASKO-Schonberg ensemble and the French Ensemble Le Balcon. She performed LICHT-BILDER (SONNTAG aus LICHT) in the production of musikFabrik/Oper Köln in 2011; MICHAELION (MITTWOCH aus LICHT) at the London 2012 Festival with the Birmingham Opera Company; HARMONONIEN (KLANG) oa at the MusikTriennale Köln; BASSETSU TRIO (MITTWOCH aus LICHT) and ROTARY quintet at the Festival d'Automne Paris 2013/2014; BASSETSU solo and TIERKREIS.

Fie is bass clarinetteacher at the Prince Claus Conservatory Groningen.Also she is teaching privately, mostly students and adults. Fie is the owner of clarinets (Schwenk und Seggelke), bass clarinet (Buffet), bassethorn (Buffet) and contrabass clarinet (Leblcanc). Fie Schouten is Buffet Crampon Artist.

David Blumberg is Principal Clarinetist of the Seabrook Opera, and a 1st Clarinet Section Member of 'WindWorks of Washington', D.C. - a Professional 'National Band' featuring members of the big 4 D.C. Service Bands, members of the National Symphony, and special invitation only guests from across the USA. November of 2014, he was invited to perform with members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at a Music Festival in Shenzhen China, to a crowd of over 10,000 people.

As a Signed Artist for Backun Winds, D'Addario Reeds, Silverstein, and BG Ligatures, he is in very high demand for Clinics, and Masterclasses. He recently returned from the Netherlands where he gave lessons at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and also the Koln Germany Conservatoire. He was a featured Soloist in the 2015 Agaete Clarinet Festival held in the Gran Canary Island of Las Palmas.

Prof. Blumberg was selected by Ricardo Morales to Instruct Clarinet with him at the Philadelphia International Music Festival featuring Philadelphia Orchestra Members as it's Faculty http://www.PIMF.org. He teaches students both in his Studio, and has Students all over the World who study Clarinet online with him, with students range from younger, to Doctoral Candidates, and also Professionals wishing to improve their playing.

At the 2014 Philadelphia Orchestra Festival, he taught 3 out of the 6 Concerto Soloist Finalists, and also the Winner. All of the Contestants studied with Philadelphia Orchestra Members.

His students have won numerous competitions including 1st Runner up of the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition, 1st Runner up of the 2012 International Clarinet Association's Orchestral Audition Competition, 1st Prize Wind Category in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Interlochen Michigan Music Festival Concerto Competition, the Matinee Music Society Competition (Curtis Institute), and the U.S. Air Force Band competition. He taught the only Wind Finalist in the 1991, and 1992 Philadelphia Orchestra Student Soloist Competition. His students have been featured on WFLN-FM Philadelphia Classical Radio in the “Live from the Settlement School” Broadcasts.. He has taught numerous 1st Chair Pennsylvania All State Band Clarinetists.

He has collaborated with Toronto Symphony Principal Clarinetist Avrahm Galper on the book “The Upbeat Baermann Scale Studies” which are used by several major Universities. David holds the distinction of being the youngest Clarinet teacher to ever have a student as a winner of the International Clarinet Association's Young Artist Competition (at 28 years old in 1992).

He studied with Anthony Gigliotti for 7 years (at Temple University where he got his Orchestral Performance Degree), and was one of the 2 American Clarinetist's selected to participate in the 1988 Robert Marcellus Scotia Music Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Additional studies with David Shifrin, and Charles Neidich. He gave the Philadelphia Premiere of the T.C. David Trio #1 for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano in 1985 with Asst. Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra Nancy Bean. He was the Principal Clarinetist for the 1987 Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestral Seminar. Mr. Blumberg studied Chamber Music under Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians Murray Panitz, Bernard Garfield, Richard Woodhams, Anthony Gigliotti, and Smithsonian Chamber Player Lambert Orkis.

At Temple University, as a 2nd year Undergraduate Student, he was selected to perform in several Doctoral Woodwind Ensembles. David was a winner of the WFLN - FM Radio Concerto Competition, 1st Prize Grahm-Stahl Concerto Competition, the Delaware Council for the Arts Music Competition, the Lansdowne Symphony Concerto Competition, and the Tri-State Winner of the Omega Psi Phi Foundation Music Competition.

At Temple University, he studied Pedagogy under Alexander Fiorillo (one of Vladimir Horowitz’s only 5 students). Additional studies with Juilliard Faculty Joe Allard, Charles Neidich and David Shifrin. He has performed in Master Classes with Mitchell Lurie, Leon Russianoff, David Shifrin, Paul Meyer, and Joaquin Valdepenas.

Mr. Blumberg has been on the Roster as a Performing Artist for the D'Addario/Rico since 1993, performing on the Reserve Reeds exclusively, and aided in the development/testing of that reed.

Leslie Craven for many years performed and recorded for London’s major orchestras; RPO Philharmonia, LSO etc., etc., and also for T.V., film and advertisement sessions (known as”Jingles”) in the major studios.In 1993 he was invited by Maestro Carlo Rizzi to join W.N.O. and he settled in Wales in to enjoy a more pleasant lifestyle and to be part of one of the world’s leading Opera companies.

He is currently Principal clarinettist of the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera a position he has held for over twenty two years, frequently being singled out by the press for his solo work in the Opera as recently as 2014 in the solos in Rossini’s “Moses in Egypt” which was given high praise in the press and his solo work given special mention on the BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

Today, he is widely regarded as one of Britain’s most accomplished and respected clarinettists in every musical genre.

He is recognised as one of the foremost teachers of clarinet not only in U.K. but worldwide and he has written a pedagogical book to help clarinettists learn and teach the instrument and has contributed many articles and reviews for magazines and journals both in the U.K. and abroad.

Leslie has given master classes in many notable establishments worldwide; notably the Royal College of Music, Royal Welsh College of music and Drama, Trinity Laban, Birmingham Conservatoire, Cardiff University Music School, University of Caldas Colombia, South America, Union Musicale Utiel – Requena, Spain, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Cape Town University; South African College of Music, The Clarinet Convention, Cardiff , The Clarinet Summer School, Liverpool and many other leading clarinet orientated institutions.

He gives consultations for mouthpieces and lessons/classes in his studio at home.Soon he hopes to begin chamber music weekends at his home for small groups of players – to find out more contact Leslie direct.

Peter Verhoyen is principal piccolo of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra (chief conductor Edo De Waart and principal conductor Philippe Herreweghe). He is a prize-winner in the Belfius Classics competiton and the Concours International UFAM in Paris. He was also a semi-finalist in the NFA Orlando Young Artists' Competition in 1995.

He commissioned several works for piccolo from Flemish composers, most of which have been recorded. His piccolo recital cd's Piccolo Tunes, The Birds!, Piccolo Polkas and Psychobird with pianist Stefan de Schepper established his reputation as a piccolo specialist.

Peter was invited to give masterclasses and concerts in conservatories in Belgium, Europe and the United States : Brussels (Royal Conservatory), Enschede (Artez Hogeschool), Brno (Janacek Academy), Paris (CNSMP), Omaha (International Piccolo Symposium), London (Royal Academy), Oxford (Flute Summer School), Weimar (Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt). He has given piccolo recitals at the BFS Convention in Warwick (UK) en the NFA Conventions in New York, Anaheim and Las Vegas (USA).

With his chamber music ensemble Arco Baleno, he realized fifteen cd projects as well as various radio recordings. Arco Baleno toured Germany, France, Slovenia, the USA and the Netherlands after winning the CHAIN-contest in Enschede (The Netherlands) and the Musical Youth Debut Prize for chamber music.

Peter currently teaches at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Antwerp, where he developed a piccolo master program, and at his private flute studio in Bruges.

In cooperation with Aldo Baerten and Robert Pot Peter organizes the International Flute Seminar Bruges.

Marc Grauwels is undoubtedly one of the Belgian flautists most catching the limelight today. He owes this to his talent, his dynamic and generous personality but equally to his innate sense of communication. His eclecticism as an international soloist has inspired a lot of composers from all over the world who wrote especially for him or associated him to the first performance of their creations. In this way, in 1985, he played in duo with the guitarist Guy Lukowski the first performance of the famous and well-known History of the Tango from Astor Piazzolla and he also participated to the first recording of this work. He also participated to the creation of the Cantate for Europe from Ennio Morricone. More recently, the Greek composer Yannis Markopoulos wrote for him his new concerto for flute that was played as one of the opening musics for the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

Even before having finished his musical studies in his country he made his orchestral debute, aged only nineteen, with the Flemish Opera. In 1976 he joined the Monnaie Theatre in Brussels as piccolo solo (the Belgian National Opera House) which he left in 1978 to become first flute soloist in the Symphonic Orchestra of the Belgian radio and television. He stayed for ten years whilst being chosen for the same position in 1986 at the foundation of the famous “World Orchestra” directed by Carlo-Maria Giulini.

His career as a soloist was to soar in an impressive way from then on which would entail his definitive departure from the orchestra in 1987. In the same period he taught for fifteen years at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and today he holds a chair as titular professor at the Royal Conservatory of Mons.

In February 2001 following an Asian tour the world management of Naxos in Hong Kong decided to confide to him a whole collection in their catalogue entitled “The Flute Collection”. For the coming years this Marc Grauwels collection will bring out thirty CDs. (15 Naxos CDs are already available on the world market.)

Since several years, Marc Grauwels is also ‘’Endorser’’ for the well-known Japanese flute maker, Miyazawa. Amply gifted by nature with a genial and enthusiastic character he does not refrain from multiplying very diverse musical experiences and readily moves to and fro between e.g. Piazzolla and Mozart and between Bach and Ravi Shankar.And yet, this does nor obscure his attention in keeping an equilibrium between seriousness and a vivid imagination in putting together his programmes. His last world première recording (a Naxos label), devoted to a number of unedited works for flute and percussion –most of these having been dedicated to him- makes a worthy illustration of this stance.

It was after all Marc Grauwels who participated in the recording of the sound track of the film Amadeus by Milos Forman, accompanied by Thomas Bloch and the Brussels Virtuosi Ensemble in the superb adagio for Glasharmonica, flute, oboe, alto and cello KV 617. He furthermore interpreted the youth sonatas, the quartets and the concerto for flute and harp of the integral works of Mozart offered in a single box containing 170 CDs. The case, the Golden Disk, is currently an unmatched commercial success with Brillant Classics for the 250th anniversary of Mozart (over 100.000 copies having been sold already).

With a minimum of 100 concerts a year all around the world, more than 15.000 pages devoted to him on the Web and a discography listing more than 60 CDs as a soloist performer, Marc Grauwels has shown that the right artistic approach does pave the way these days for a flutist’s tremendous public success. Both in his career and in his artistic interpretations Marc Grauwels has always stayed true to himself… which, after all, does not count as the meanest of his qualities.

Saxophonist, bandleader, arranger, composer, programmer, radio maker, conservatory teacher and SENA board member Rolf Delfos has been very active in the international jazz scene. For his merits in the Dutch jazz world he received the prestigious Peter Schilperoort Award in 2013.

Since the ‘80 he is part of the Houdini's, the jazz sextet which is widely known at home and abroad. In 1996 they received the Golden Nutcracker for their work and achievements in the Dutch jazz scene. Rolf also plays in successful bands as the Cubop City Big Band, the Lewinsy Quartet, The Jazz Invaders, The Auratones, Delmontis and Artvark Saxophone Quartet. This saxophone quartet was inspired by blues in all its forms and is well known to connect traditions groovy jazz. For the album Sly Meets Callas from 2012 was Artvark whopping five stars from Jazzism. The saxophonists played in 2011 at TEDx Amsterdam with top vocalist Claron McFadden and left a lasting impression during Opium Night Live.

Since 2007 Rolf is artistic director / arranger of the big band Licks and Brains. A collaboration with Gino Vanelli has resulted in 2007 in six concerts (including own arrangements of Delfos and Hoorweg), a studio recording of his new album and a concert at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2008. Also in 2011, Rolf was a band member of Gino Vannelli during a concert by the Netherlands.

For the last twenty years Rolf worked with a wide range of national and international artists and worked on more than 60 CD productions. Besides the many global released CDs of his own band, his recordings include cd’s with Gino Vanelli, Denise Jannah, Lois Lane, DJ Phil Martin and Trijntje Oosterhuis. Out of those he is also responsible for the compositions and arrangements of more than 30 albums.

Flautist Rowland Sutherland enjoys an international career in many different fields of music. He regularly performs in some of the leading UK new music ensembles, jazz bands, symphony orchestras, various non-Western groups, pop outfits and as a soloist.

Many of Rowland’s solo contemporary flute performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio. He has composed and arranged music for bands, ensembles and the BBC. He made his BBC Proms debut as soloist during the 2006 season performing Steve Reich, for his 70th birthday celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall.

Rowland is professor of flute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Northern College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He gives lectures on flute technique with the composition students at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He is also Assistant Lecturer of Flute at the University of Kent.

Rowland teaches classical flute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Kent. He lectures the student composers at the Birmingham Conservatoire on the subject of extended techniques for flute. He has given classical flute classes at various universities and flute courses.

Rowland has given many contemporary flute workshops for composition students on solo flute, flute and piano and occasionally flute and guitar at such institutions as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, Universities of Wales, Sussex, Bristol, City (London) Universities and the Brighton Festival, among others.

Rowland has led a number of jazz and jazz flute classes and workshops at many different institutions including the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Northern College of Music, Leeds College of Music, Aldeburgh Music, Oxford Flute Summer School, Flute School London and All Flutes Plus. Also at The National Gallery London, Youth Music and at a number of schools in London. Rowland often gives classes and workshops for classical flute students, taking them through many of the vital elements of jazz.

Rowland occasionally tutors for the National Youth Jazz Collective. He has also coached various ensembles at many of the above institutions.

Rowland has been involved in various types of contemporary classical music composer workshops with such contemporary classical ensembles as Lontano, Icebreaker, notes inegales, New Music Players, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Ixion, Ensemble Expose, Chroma and Uroboros. They have taken place with such organisations and at such venues as British Music Information Centre, Society for the Performance of New Music, Dartington International Summer School, Reggello International Festival Italy, Gaudeamus Amsterdam, Sound and Music, Universities of Kings College London, Birmingham, Surrey, York, Bristol, Durham, Bath Spa, Southampton, Royal College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, among others.

Jazz and World Music artists Rowland has performed with include such international artists as Frank Wess, David Murray, Flora Purim, Henry Threadgil, Carla Bley, Ali Ryerson, Manu Dibango, Airto, Joyce, Paulo Fresu, King Sunny Ade, Olodum, Rebirth Brass Band, Evan Parker, Nitin Sawhney, Courtney Pine, Jean Toussaint, Orphy Robinson, Zoe Rahman, Cleveland Watkiss, Issie Barratt, Alec Dankworth, Dennis Rollins, Nikki Yeoh, Mark Lockheart, Filomena Campus and London Improvisers Orchestra.

Rowland’s composition Enlightenment (In the Spirit of A Love Supreme by John Coltrane) received much acclaim by the press, media and the general public and featured at James Lavelle's Meltdown Festival 2014 at the QEH, South Bank Centre, with sell out audiences. It was featured on Jez Nelson’s Jazz on 3, BBC Radio 3 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the seminal album, A Love Supreme.

Rowland has performed at the Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre, North Sea Jazz Festival, Chatelet Les Halles, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall.

As bandleader, Rowland’s Brazilian influenced jazz band Mistura, has an album out called ‘Coast to Coast’ on the FMR label. He performs Caribbean and Brazilian influenced contemporary jazz in his Rowland Sutherland Sextet. His group, Creative Force, features Orphy Robinson on vibes and electronics and performs Caribbean and UK nu jazz. Rowland’s trio Myrtle with Alwynne Pritchard (voice) and Thorolf Thuestad (computer) performs songs and free improv.

He has played and recorded with various new music ensembles and dance companies in Britain. These include: Lontano, Icebreaker, New Music Players, notes inegales, Colin Currie Group, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Ixion, Phoenix Dance and Rambert Dance.

As a freelance musician Rowland is also active in the orchestral field and has played with such orchestras as: Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, London Philharmonic, BBC Concert, European Community Chamber and City of London Sinfonia.

Rowland has recorded for a diverse range of pop artists such as Incognito, George Benson, Joss Stone, Us3, Fightstar, Keziah Jones, Guillemots, Omar, William Orbit, Marc Almond and MC Solaar.

Stephan Vermeersch (Belgium) studied at the Lemmens Institute Leuven and Royal Conservatory Ghent in Belgium and holds degrees in Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Saxophone and Chamber Music. He studied clarinet with Greet Severens (student of Walter Boeykens) and saxophone with Ed Bogaard. He attended lots of master classes and workshops.

Stephan has gained an international reputation as versatile performer-improviser-composer of classical, contemporary, world and electro-acoustical music with many crossovers to other cultures and art forms (visual arts, dance, film, architecture, literature, theater…). He participated as soloist/chamber musician in a multitude of genres on clarinets & saxophones at concerts and festivals in over 35 countries East- & West-Europe, Middle-East, Russia, USA, Canada, Armenia, Pakistan, India, Japan, China and Mongolia.

As composer/improviser his motto is: 'What lies beyond the border: a quest for new captivating music for a wide public: Far reaching and enriching!' He writes mainly for clarinets/saxophones and on request of many performers his music will soon be published.

Stephan is President of the European Clarinet Association and International Respresentative Board Director of the International Clarinet Association: these organizations strives to unite clarinet players beyond country, cultural, social and language boarders and of course collaborate with clarinet associations worldwide. He is a Buffet Crampon Artist and Rico Artist.

Leo van Oostrom was born 1942 in The Hague, the Netherlands.

He studied clarinet (with Jolle Huckriede) and saxophone (with Adriaan Bosch) at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague. Following his final exams he was awarded the Fock Medal for best student of the year and is since than much in demand as a saxophonist in various symphony-orchestras.

From 1969 on he is soprano-saxophonist with the Nederlands Saxofoon Kwartet which concentrates on traditional and contemporary repertory and was awarded the Johan Wagenaar Prize in 1980.

Since 1981 Leo van Oostrom teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and gave annual master-classes in Sweden. From 1992 until 2003 he was Lead-Alto in The Metropole Orchestra.

He frequently plays with the ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble, Ebony Band, Waterland Ensemble, David Kweksilber Big Band, Kwartoet, Beau Hunks, Andor’s Jazzband, Trio Amici, Saxophobia and That’s Jazz.

The duo with pianist Wolfgang Watzinger performs the classical saxophone-repertoire in its widest sense and Saxophobia with pianist Eddy van Dijken presents music from Wiedoeft and Trumbauer as well as a demo/concert with 15 historical saxophones ranging from 1854 till 1960.

His solo-work includes appearances with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1969 van Oostrom started what would eventually turn into the world’s largest saxophone collection. He recently published his book “100 + 1 saxen”, in which his whole collection is shown, within a historical perspective.

Aldo Baerten is Principal Flutist at the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edo de Waart, Philippe Herreweghe and Martyn Brabbins. He is Professor for flute at the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp, at the Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht (NL) and gives masterclasses on 4 continents. Aldo Baerten is also a former professor for flute at the Sydney Conservatory.

He is a regular guest at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Mahler Chamber Orchestra, I Fiamminghi, European Union Opera, Arctic Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

During his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, with Prof. Peter-Lukas Graf (Musikhochschule Basel), where he obtained the Diploma as a Soloist and with Philippe Boucly (R.Strauss-Konservatorium München), he became Prize-winner in competitions such as 'Maria Canals' (Barcelona 2001), Vienna (2004), Axion Classics, Quantz, and the National Instrumentcompetition of Belgium.

He received the Alex de Vries-prize, the SABAM-award, and the Caecilia-prize of the Belgian music-press. Aldo Baerten played as a soloist with eminent orchestras as the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, RSO Basel, National Orchestra of Belgium, Walloon Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Las Vegas and Kansas City Symphony under the baton of D. Stern, V. Czarniecki, P. Rundel, G. Octors, Z. Nagy, T. Yuasa, S. Byess, E. Aadland, R.Wilson. He is a regular guest at festivals around the world, together with famous musicians such as José van Dam, Martin Helmchen, Severin von Eckardstein, Martin Spangenberg, Niek de Groot, Storioni Trio, Michel Strauss, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Hervé Joulain, Kandinsky Trio, Jana Bouskova, Dietrich Henschel, Tatjana Masurenko.

Aldo Baerten has recorded extensively on Cyprus, Phaedra, ECM, Pentatone and Beriato Music. His recording of Schubert’s Introduction, Theme and Variations on Trockne Blumen (Die schöne Müllerin) with pianist Martin Helmchen was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine Prize of best chamber-music recording of the year 2010. From 1989 until 1993 he was Principal Flutist with Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra of the E.U, where he has played under conductors such as B. Haitink, V. Ashkenazy, V. Neumann, J. Conlon and J. Tate. He was also chosen as Principal of the Schleswigholstein Festival Orchestra (Sir G.Solti) and the World Youth Orchestra. Aldo Baerten was the Principal Flutist of the Belgian Chamber Orchestra and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig.

His yearly summerclass International Flute Seminar Bruges is a highlight for professionals and amateurs. Aldo Baerten is a regular Jury-Member of the International Flutonicon Flute Competition, Axion Classics, Lyons-music-competition, NFA Young Artists Competition, Yamaha Music Foundation and Biwako (Japan).His students occupy positions in orchestras and conservatories in Belgium and abroad.

Gerard McChrystal comes from Derry, N.Ireland. He took up the saxophone as a second study for his RNCM audition in 1982. By 1987 he had made his concerto debut with the RTE Concert Orchestra playing the Dubois concerto live on TV. His UK debut was with the Philharmonia in 1989 premiering Out of the Cool by Dave Heath.

He is currently Professor of Saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London. He also teaches at The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff and Harrow Boy’s School, London. He runs regular saxophone courses for Benslow Music, Hitchin, Herts and for LMFL every summer.Gerard has given masterclasses at The Royal College of Music, London, Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, Italy, Lemmensinstituut, Belgium, RNCM, Manchester, DIT Conservatory of Music, Dublin, Mansfield University, USA, Palmela Festival, Portugal and Conservatorio Superior de Musica Eduardo Martinez Torner, Spain. In 2010 Gerard was a jury member of the 5th Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition. In December 2015 Gerard will be a jury member of the International Competition ClariSax in Valenciennes, France.

He studied at the RNCM,Manchester and was the first student to graduate with three awards including a distinction in his PPRNCM. Further studies at The Guildhall School, London and Northwestern University, Chicago with Fred Hemke followed.

Competition success includes The Royal Overseas League, RTE Musician of the Future, The Lombard and Ulster Music Foundation, Countess of Munster, The Sir James Caird Award, NFMS Award, BBC1 Opportunity Knocks! and The Park Lane Group. His Wigmore Hall debut came as a result of winning the intercolleagiate Ivan Sutton Recording Award. He has worked with Philip Glass, The Smith Quartet, guitarist Craig Ogden, percussionists Ensemble Bash, Saxophone quartet Saxtet, The Soweto String Quartet, tenorist Tommy Smith, Uilleann piper Liam o Flynn and vocal group Anuna.Gerard has performed in 35 countries including USA, China, South Africa, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Korea, Sweden and all over Europe including Italy, France, Spain and Slovenia. He has recorded albums with BBC NOW, Ulster Orchestra, London Musici, guitarist Craig Ogden, The Smith Quartet, Yan Pascal Tortelier and record labels include Chandos, Signum Records and Silva Screen.

He has developed a repertoire of accessible new works, often with a celtic influence some of which have been published in his saxophone series by Camden Music, London and Reed Music, Australia.

Orchestras Gerard has worked with include The Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Symphony of Ireland, Stuttgart Staatsorchester and the Orchestra of San Francisco Ballet. Venues include San Francisco Opera House, Baku Opera House, Royal Abert Hall, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, National Concert Hall, Dublin and a longhut in Sarawak, Borneo.

His album Aria was named as one of the best classical CDs of 2011 by Classic FM and was chosen as one of David Mellor’s Connoiseur’s Choice. It was also RTE Lyric FM’s Album of the week in November 2011.

In 2013 Gerard performed at Sons & Daughters for BBC1 with orchestra, rhythm section and choir to 2,500 people at the launch of Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013. 11,000 people applied for tickets. He also appeared in a new promotional film for the city. In March he was invited to meet the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the House of Commons. Later that month he played a sell-out concert of Shaun Davey’s Relief of Derry Symphony in the National Concert Hall Dublin with The National Symphony of Ireland. A performance of the same work in December 2013 was the finale to Derry-Londonderry City of Culture.

His new solo programme InterFuse for saxophone and electronics has won two awards from the Arts Council. It is sponsored by Vandoren Reeds, Yanigisawa Saxophones, Buffet-Crampon and retailer sax.co.uk. In 2014 Gerard premiered a new work for sax and loop station in Ireland. The new work, Mid-term Break was commissioned from Gerard in memory of the poet Seamus Heaney.

2014 included a broadcast of The Glazunov Saxophone Concerto for BBC Radio 3 and a sell-out live broadcast with The Ulster Orchestra for the BBC featuring six pieces for saxophone and orchestra.

In 2015 he joined the saxophone quartet Super Mario Bros with Mario Marzi (Italy), Antonio Filipe Belijar (Spain) and Joao Pedro Silva (Portugal). They have performed in Lisbon and Strasbourg. In December 2015 Gerard will perform the Dubois saxophone Concerto in France.

Toon Fret is Professor for flute and chamber music at the 'Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Liège' and teaches chamber music at the 'Pôle d'Enseignement Supérieur' in Dijon, Bourgogne. He is flutist at the Oxalys ensemble, the chamber music quintet 'Het Collectief' and plays recitals throughout Europe.

Toon Fret is a flexible musician par excellence. He participates in the most diverse ensembles. After studying in Brussels, Paris, Maastricht and Basel with professors such as Gaby Van Riet, M.Lefèbvre, P.L.Graf, I.Ribera and B.Kuijken, he earned fame in the first place as a flutist and programmer of the ensemble Oxalys and also as a flutist of ‘Het Collectief’.

Besides he can be heard as traverse flute player in various ensembles. In the contemporary repertoire Toon Fret is omnivorous with a predilection for works that do justice to the magical character of the flute. Small wonder that works by A. Jolivet, T. Takemitsu, T. Hosokawa, S. Sciarino and K.Y. Chong often feature on the programme. Concerts with Toon Fret are rarely exclusively contemporary: his programmes are organised along lines of context, dialogue and confrontation.

‘His tone is not just beautiful but finely graded over the widest dynamic and expressive range.’ (GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE)

Cristo Barrios is a spontaneous, emotionally intense and hypnotic clarinettist, delicate at the same time as powerful. These qualities led him to an important international career as a soloist and chamber musician which combines classical/romantic repertoire with new creations and a special interest in music of the 20th century. Besides, his performances for clarinet, dancers and free improvisation are much in demand and show him as a versatile and unique artist.

Most recently Cristo Barrios embarked upon recital projects in some of the most important venues, such as Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Wigmore Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin and Viena, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Carnegie Hall in New York. As a chamber musician he has appeared with the Elias, Endellion, Arditti and Brodsky string quartets.

Mr. Barrios has worked with composers such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kaija Saariaho, Helmut Lachenmann and Pierre Boulez and has given a number of world premieres including Gustavo Díaz-Jerez’s Symphonic Poem ‘Ayssuragan’ with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoine Marguier, and Nino Díaz’s Second Clarinet Concerto with the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. His recording projects stem from the same passion for providing new musical creations as broad an audience as possible, along with very personal interpretations of repertory already known. Thus, Cristo Barrios recorded ‘The Voice of the Clarinet’ (Divine Art Records), a CD with original transcriptions of lieder; ‘20th Century Music for Clarinet’ (Metier Records), which includes works by Bernstein, Bax, Berg, Brotons and Honneger; and ‘Iamus’ (Melomics Records), a CD with music created through an innovative project at the University of Málaga involving composers, musicians and scientists.

Cristo Barrios has given master classes at the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra Superior Conservatory in Lisbon, the University of Arts in Zürich, the Strasbourg Conservatory, the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Cologne Conservatory, the Liszt Academy in Budapest and the Amsterdam Conservatory. In the last years he has developed new methodologies that introduce interdisciplinary innovations including the use of free improvisation, singing and dance which improve the performance skills of his students.

Cristo Barrios is working with the clarinet maker René Hagmann, who has made significant advances in his clarinets. Cristo is a Buffet Crampon artist and a Vandoren artist.

Saxophonist of Dutch/Moravian descent. He studied saxophone and conducting at the Brabants Conservatorium in the Netherlands. After these studies with Jean Pennings and Jan Cober, he studied with the famous Carina Raschèr, daughter of pioneer saxophonist Sigurd Raschèr.

As conductor he has worked with a variety of orchestras and ensembles, to name a few, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Germany, the string orchestra of the Fontys Conservatory, Regionaal Concert Orkest Amersfoort and the Shell Harmonie Amsterdam. For his achievements during his ten year period as principal conductor, which ended in 2014, van Zoelen was named honorary conductor for life of the well know Dutch symphonic wind orchestra St. Caecilia, Blerick.

Andreas van Zoelen started his composing career as autodidact. Later he enjoyed lessons with Alexandre Hrisanide and Jan van Dijk. His compositions have been played by renowned ensembles and orchestras across the globe. As arranger he has worked for a long list of Dutch artists and international orchestras.

As soloist he has performed with more than 20 orchestras, such as the UMA chamber orchestra, the Northern Arizona University Wind Symphony, the 'BadischeStaatskapelle Karlsruhe', Germany, 'Orkest Zuid' and the “Magogo Kamerorkest” in the Netherlands. He has also played many recitals. In 2000, he was invited to play at the festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he delivered a program of pieces written for the bass saxophone that were conceived by Scottish and Dutch composers. About 140 works where written for van Zoelen, a pioneer of the bass saxophone. Since 2001 he plays bass saxophone in the Raschèr Saxophone Orchestra.

Van Zoelen could also be admired on many occasions as a musician with the Beethoven Orchester, Bonn, the Brandenburg State Symphonic Orchestra, theNoord Nederlands Orkest, the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest (PhilharmonieZuidnederland), the Bochumer Symphoniker and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under Sir Simon Rattle. He has performed regularly for international Radio and Television. As a recording artist, he has contributed to over 30 CD (LP) and DVD productions. Furthermore, he has performed with musicians like Stewart Copeland (the Police), Daniel Kientzy and Markus Stockhausen.

He has a specific interest in the history of the saxophone. His collection of sources and over 60 instruments, among which several from the atelier of Adolphe Sax, is unique. Van Zoelen plays these instruments a.o. in his chamber music program “L’Histoire du Sax”, which presents the sounding history of the saxophone from its naissance until present day. From 2006-2013 he worked on an extensive book about the history of the saxophone in the Netherlands, which received international acclaim and is now seen as a standard work. His articles are regularly published in international journals.

He has performed with leading chamber music ensembles such as the NederlandsSaxofoon Kwartet (Dutch Saxophone Quartet, a.o. seen in the Dutch documentary on Tristan Keuris’ music for saxophone: “De componist met de gouden handjes”). In 2013 he was invited by Leo van Oostrom to join “Edition Sax”, an ensemble which focuses on performing early works for the saxophone on historic instruments built by Adolphe Sax.

In 2002 received the “Jacques de Leeuw Young Talent Award”. In 2014 van Zoelen was nominated for the Fontys “Think Bigger” prize for organizing the Dutch Saxophone Festival (Nederlands Saxofoon Festival), which was held February 2014 at the Fontys Conservatorium in Tilburg. He has taught many masterclass at institutions such as the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and the ESMAE in Porto, Portugal.

In 2014 Andreas van Zoelen was invited to join the famous Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, where he succeeded founding member Bruce Weinberger on tenor saxophone. With this highly successful ensemble he performs concerts and teachesmasterclasses across the globe. Van Zoelen is professor of classical saxophone at the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg, Netherlands, where he successfully teaches an international class of students.

Leon Berendse began playing the flute at age ten. He studied with Paul Verhey and Rien de Reede at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and at graduation received the Nicolai prize.

He continued his studies with Geoffrey Gilbert in Florida and attended classes with Trevor Wye and William Bennett.

Since 1987, Leon Berendse, is employed as the Principal Flute Player within the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. He is a member of the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam.

As a Soloist Flute Player, he performed in many other countries in Europe, the United States, Brazil and Argentina. He recently played chamber music at the Chamber Music Festival The Hague and Peter the Great Festival. Leon Berendse is also active as a conductor and teaches flute at the Fontys Conservatory.

Leon plays a flute by Anton Braun no 81 and Lev Levit flute no 115

Céleste is a clarinettist whose versatility encompasses a broad range of musical styles. At the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory, she studied with Herman Braune (Bachelor's Degree, with Distinction) then with George Pieterson (Master's Degree, with Distinction). After graduating, she became active in many diverse musical fields.

Céleste has been a member of the Brabant Orchestra since 2002, while also pursuing her passionate commitment to chamber music. As a member of numerous chamber ensembles, she has performed throughout the Netherlands and around the world. During the past two seasons with the A(i)rco Ensemble (woodwinds and strings), she toured Istanbul and took part in the Robeco Summer Concert series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In 2011, with the Trio Amare (soprano, clarinet and piano), she performed a new work by Dutch composer Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk. She is also a member of the Lucebert Trio (clarinet, viola/tenor violin, piano) and Dacace (violin, clarinet, piano). She has also given many recitals with pianist Jaap Kooi.

Céleste took first prize in the 2001 'Vriendenkrans' competition (organized by the Concertgebouw and Concertgebouw orchestra), along with numerous other awards, including the Press Award, the Audience Award and the Eduard van Beinum Award. The following year, she won the prestigious Philip Morris Art Prize. She was selected to perform in the 'Rising Stars' international concert series for the 2003-2004 season, an extended tour that took her to all the great concert halls of Europe, and marked her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. Composer Robin de Raaff wrote a work especially for her ('Chalumeau'), which she performed on this tour, and again in July 2005 at a major international clarinet festival in Tokyo. Several other composers have also written works for her, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has also worked with many renowned composers, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Otto Ketting, Theo Loevendie, Theo Verbey and Sofia Gubaidulina.

She has recorded numerous CDs with her various chamber ensembles, as well as a 2006 recording of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet and Kegelstatt Trio with the Van Dingstee Quartet, with whom she frequently collaborates. In Messiaen's commemorative year of 2008, with a piano trio she gave eight performances of 'Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps,' and performed it again in the fall of 2010 and November 2011. She has also played with the Holland Wind Players. As a featured soloist, she has made frequent appearances with many orchestras. She frequently organizes chamber music projects for unusual combinations of instruments, among others with harpist Lavinia Meijer. Since the summer of 2006, she has taken part in the Peter de Grote Festival, giving numerous concerts in the Dutch provinces of Drenthe and Groningen. In March 2008 she became artistic director of the biennial chamber music festival 'Kamerklanken'. Next season's festival will be in September 2014.

Céleste is also an active and enthusiastic teacher, dedicated to the education of young musicians. She is a professor at the Utrecht Conservatory and the Prins Claus Conservatory in Groningen. She frequently gives workshops and master classes at home and abroad, and often sits on juries for (inter)national competitions. Céleste Zewald is a member of the Board of Council of the National Fund for Musical Instruments.

Matthias Mueller received a broad musical training at the University of Music in Basle; his most important teachers were Hans Rudolf Stalder and Jürg Wyttenbach. Since 1996 Matthias Müller has lived in Zurich and is Professor for Clarinet at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). He has gained a reputation as a versatile artist and is active as an interpreter, composer and teacher as well as the Artistic Director of various institutions and for various projects. He has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras such as the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi etc. He supports the creation of new music and played over 100 premiers. At the Institute for Computer Music und Sound Technology at the ZHdK he is in charge of the research project ‘Sensor Augmented Bass Clarinet’, an instrument that is playable in the usual way but also allows a computer to be controlled. As a composer he has followed a line of development that might be termed the ‘Aesthetics of the Second Modernism’ and attempts time and time again to follow through in an interdisciplinary way. Along with works of music theatre and for orchestra, his œuvre encompasses many pieces of chamber music and electronic music, too. He has written an instructional work for the clarinet and continues regularly to compose works for children.

Cécile Rongen, finished her Master of Music Cum Laude at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with George Pieterson in November 2005. After playing in the National Youth Orchestra two years she then appeared in the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra and worked with persons like Bernhard Haitink, Lorin Maazel and Vladimir Ashkenazy. From 2006 t/m 2008 Cécile had a placement as a clarinet-/ bass clarinet player with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Cécile frequently plays as a freelance with other orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra and Holland Symfonia. Cécile followed a lot of masterclasses, for example with Sabine Meyer. From 2009 to 2013 Cécile had a part-time job in the education department of the Music Center of Broadcasting. Since the summer of 2013 she works at Mocca Amsterdam, an organization for cultural education. Also Cécile is teaching at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht.

Nicholas Cox's recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) was released in May 2003. In its first week it was CD of the week on Classic FM and has been one of the most frequently broadcast versions of the Concerto on the airwaves ever since. Gold Medallists at the 1984 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in London and 2nd prize-winner at the 1987 Jeunesses Musicales International Clarinet Competition, Nick has since played concertos with City of London Sinfonia, North German Radio, Prague Symphony Orchestra, the RLPO and Milton Keynes City Orchestra. His reputation as a player is matched by a teaching career of distinction. During his time as Senior Tutor, Clarinet at the RNCM his pupil, Mark Simpson at Junior RNCM became the first musician to win both BBC Young Musician and BBC Young Composer of the Year awards in 2006 and in 2011 all three orchestral clarinet vacancies in UK orchestras went to his former students from RNCM.

After reading music at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Nicholas studied clarinet with Hans Deinzer in Hanover on a German Government Scholarship and at the Aspen Music School on an English Speaking Union Scholarship. In 1992, he was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with whom he has played concertos by Copland, Debussy, Weber, Nielsen, Bruch, Richard Strauss and Mozart. He has also been Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras.

As a soloist Nicholas has appeared at most of Britain's important festivals and halls including the Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, Edinburgh Festival, Cheltenham, Bath, Brighton and Huddersfield. An enthusiastic advocate of new music for the clarinet, he gave the première of the Clarinet Concerto by Adam Gorb in 1999 commissioned by the RLPO. Other composers who have written new works for him include Hugh Wood, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Jonathan Lloyd, Andrei Eshpai, Yuri Kasparov, Alan Ridout, Peter Fribbins, Emily Howard, Matilda Brown and Anthony Powers. In 2005, he gave the first BBC broadcast of Giya Kancheli's haunting work Midday Prayers in the presence of the composer. In 2007 he premièred a new work by David Horne with Ensemble 10/10 and a Clarinet Quintet by Hugh Wood. In a major recital the same year he performed 2 new works for clarinet and electronics by Matthew Fairclough and Ian Percy at Liverpool Hope University alongside Boulez's classic 1980s work Dialogue de l'ombre double and first UK performance of Nico Muhly's It goes without saying. In 2010 he premiered a new Clarinet Concerto commissioned by the RLPO from the Catalan composer Benet Casablancas subtitled Dove of Peace after the iconic Picasso drawing. His performance of this piece can be viewed on YouTube. 2012 saw the première of a new Clarinet Quintet by Emily Howard with the Danel Quartet. And most recently he premièred a new Clarinet Sonata by Anthony Powers. Over the years he has played at four Clarinet Fests of the International Clarinet Association in Texas, Stockholm, Porto and Assisi premiering works by Adam Gorb, Richard Rodney Bennett, Edward Gregson, David Horne, Hugh Wood and recently discovered works by Iain Hamilton and an early work by Sir Arnold Bax. Master Classes have taken him to Europe, Japan, China and Russia.

Earlier recordings included Sonatas by Brahms and Reger (1994, United: Cala 88012), Bliss's Clarinet Quintet (Redcliffe 010) together with works by Rawsthorne and Routh and Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale for Naxos (Northern Chamber Orchestra). With the RLPO he has recorded the complete Beethoven and Nielsen Symphonies and most of the RLPO's celebrated Shostakovich and Rachmaninov cycles under Vasily Petrenko. His performance of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino with the RLPO under Gerard Schwarz was released in 2005 and described by BBC Music Magazine as. In December his new CD entitled 'the Thurston Connection' was released by the British Music Society (BMS 440) presenting three works premiered by the great British clarinettist Frederick Thurston alongside two he commissioned in the 1980s from Hugh Wood and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.

He co-founded and ran Ensemble 10/10 with cellist Hilary Browning between 1998 and 2003. Since 1997, thanks largely to his pioneering efforts, the Rodewald Concert Society (founded in 1911 and named after Alfred Rodewald, a Liverpool benefactor and close friend of Edward Elgar) resumed its successful promotion of chamber music in Liverpool and celebrated its centenary in 2011.

He has been a clarinet design consultant for Yamaha for several years and plays on Yamaha CSGH clarinets and works closely with Heinz Viotto the renowned German mouthpiece maker. He is also research-active producing new editions of Sonatas for clarinet by Francois Devienne for Edition HH and by Mieczyslaw Weinberg for Peer Music Hamburg. His edition of Devienne's 1st Sonata was included in the Associated Board Grade VIII syllabus from 2008-13. Sonatas 2-5 appeared between 2008 and 2012. The 6th Sonata was published earlier this year. He is currently working on first editions of works by Sir Arnold Bax and Iain Hamilton and a set of educational clarinet pieces.

Harry Sparnaay studied at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam with Ru Otto.

After graduating with a performer's degree for clarinet he specialized in bass clarinet. Today he ranks among the world's distinguished bass clarinet players. He has played solo at numerous music festivals all over the wordl such as Warsaw, New York, Los Angeles, Zagreb, the Holland Festival, several ISCM Festivals, Madrid, Paris and Athens. Other festival include those of Witten, Aarhus, Como, Bolzano, Naples, Torino, Bourges, Middelburg, Graz, Salzburg, Huddersfield, Saarbrücken, Royan and Houston.

Sparnaay has been a featured performer with many major orchestra's and ensembles including the ASKO Ensemble, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble 2E2M, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Schönberg ensemble and the Seymour Group, and has appeared with leading conductors including Luciano Berio, Riccardo Chailly, Richard Dufallo, Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw, Diego Masson, Jacques Mercier, David Porcelijn, David Stock, Lucas Vis, Hans Vonk and Mark Summerbell.

He has given concerts and made radio recordings all over Europe, North and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, performing works written for and dedicated to him. Over 500 compositions were written for him by composers such as Claudio Ambrosini, Luciano Berio, Gerard Brophy, Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Franco Donatoni, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, Gérard Grisey, Mary Finsterer, Andrew Ford, Jonathan Harvey, Maki Ishii, Sukhi Kang, Tristan Keuris, Mark Kopytman, Helmut Lachenmann, Ton de Leeuw, Theo Loevendie, Roderik de Man, Michael Smetanin, Maurice Weddington, Iannis Xenakis, Isang Yun, Andrés Lewin-Richter, Nino Díaz, Hans Joachim Hespos and many others. His own composition BOUWSTENEN for bass clarinet and multiple tape delay was selected for the ISCM World music Days in Denmark.

For many years Harry Sparnaay was professor of bass clarinet and contemporary music at the Conservatoires of Amsterdam and Utrecht where his unique bass clarinet programme attracted students from all over the world, many of them prize winners during major competitions. He has also been musician-in-residence and has given masterclasses at several universities.

Sparnaay played the world première of IN FREUNDSCHAFT and SOLO (adaptation for bass- and contra bass clarinet by Barry Anderson) by Karlheinz Stockhausen and was one of the soloists in DIE VERWANDLUNG van Paul-Heinz Dittrich and in the opera's NAIMA by Theo Loevendie, PROMETEO by Luigi Nono and A KING, RIDING by Klaas de Vries. During the Holland Festival 1999 he was one of the instrumental soloists in KOPERNIKUS by Claude Vivier.

Harry Sparnaay founded the Bass Clarinet Collective (9 bass clarinets, including 3 contrabass clarinets) and with pianist Polo de Haas the duo Fusion Moderne which was awarded the fifth prize during the International Gaudeamus Performers Competition in 1972. Together with flautist Harrie Starreveld and pianist René Eckhardt he founded in 1982 Het Trio . For this group over 180 compositions were written in the meantime. With harpsichordist Annelie de Man he founded Double_Action and with his wife, organist Silvia Castillo, the Duo Levent .

He has recorded more than sixty cd's as a soloist, with Het Trio and in other combinations. The Trio 's recording of works by Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw received an Edison Award in 1995. His television productions have been broadcast in the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and former Yugoslavia. Several times he was a jury member at the International Gaudeamus Performers Competition and he also served as a member of the Dutch section of the ISCM, the International Society for Contemporary Music.

He conducted the Ensemble for New Music of the Conservatoire of Amsterdam in works by Arnold Schönberg, Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, Olivier Messiaen, Theo Loevendie, Franco Donatoni, Joe Cutler, Toshio Hosokawa, Mary Finsterer and Iannis Xenakis and during the International Gaudeamus Music Week he regularly conducts ensembles in works by the youngest generation. From 2005 he is professor for bass clarinet and chambermusic at the ESMUC in Barcelona.

Harry Sparnaay plays the new model Prestige GreenLine bass clarinet by Buffet Crampon and he plays on RICO bass clarinet reeds.

His book 'Harry Sparnaay - the bass clarinet - a personal history' published by Periferia Music in Barcelona (www.periferiamusic.com) is received worldwide with great enthusiasm

Paul Roe is one of Ireland’s most creative and versatile musicians, his career is defined by curiosity and explorationwith an eclectic mix of activities in performance, teaching and leadership coaching. Paul is a member of the teaching staff at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and also the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. He has a particular interest in artistic collaborations and works regularly with a range of artists from across the various artistic disciplines. Equally at home with both traditional & contemporary repertoire Paul has extensive international experience as a soloist, chamber musician and educator. He has performed throughout Ireland, Europe, Asia and North America. For this coming season (2015-2016) he has performances-master classes in the U.S.A., Germany, UK and Japan, along with performances throughout Ireland. Paul is a member of several chamber music groups with whom he plays a wide range of music from classical to contemporary repertoire. He has been a member of Concorde Contemporary Music Ensemble since 1989 and is a keen advocate for the composition and performance of contemporary music. He has commissioned many Irish composers to write new works for both clarinet and bass clarinet.

Paul has a PhD in Performance Practice from the University of York, a Masters Degree in Community Music from the University of Limerick and is a Fellow of Trinity College, London. He was Associate Principal Clarinet of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland from 1987-2000. In 2008 Paul received a Fulbright Scholars award to study Klezmer performance at Mannes College of Music, New York. He is the Irish National Chairperson for the International Clarinet Association for whom he regularly writes music reviews. In 2012 Paul released his latest CD ‘Dreams and Prayers’with ConTempo String quartet on the Quartz label.

Antonio Fraioli, born in Sabaudia (LT) in 1966, he studied music at the Conservatory of Latina diploma in clarinet in 1986 with the highest grades under the guidance of Joseph Magliocca. He later studied with Maestro Francesco Belli and, for three years, with Maestro Antony Pay during summer courses of Sermoneta and Superior International Academy of Music 'L. Perosi' in Biella, where he graduated in 1991. the formation of his artistic personality has also contributed Maestro Antonio D'Anto with whom he studied Musical Analysis. In 1994 he began studying Jazz at the Conservatory 'O. Respighi' of Latina under the guidance of Maestro Mauro Zazzarini graduating with honors in 1998 with a thesis on the Bebop. He took part in a workshop on improvisation for clarinet held in Rome by Bill Smith and the two-year post-graduate course 'Music' (The musical cultures: repertoires listening - Elements of teaching) at the University of Rome 'Tor Vergata'. In 2007 he received the academic degree of second level in clarinet with honors, honors and honorable mention at the 'O. Respighi' of Latina attending instrument courses of Maestro Francesco Belli.

A winner of numerous national and international soloist competitions and, in particular, has received the first prize among the wind instruments in the third edition of the TIM - International Music Tournament (competition held in various European cities); has also won the National Competition for the 'First Training Course for Teachers Orchestra of Anzio' (valid also for the filling of posts in the Symphony Orchestra of New York), the Competition in Chairs for the teaching of 'ensemble music for wind instruments' at the conservatories and various scholarships.

He performs in Italy and abroad both as a soloist and in a duo with piano and in various chamber ensembles including the 'Stark Quartet' (Clarinet Quartet), the Ensemble Euterpe (wind quintet and piano), the Logos Ensemble, The Winds of Parma, the Histoire Trio (violin, clarinet and piano), the Clarinet Quartet 'Ivan Muller', the Hermstedt Ensemble (clarinet quartet, piano-bass, drums), The Winds of the Conservatory 'O. Respighi' The Brass Sextet 'Novecento' (flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, horn and bassoon), the Trio 'Nino Rota'(clarinet, cello and piano), Ensemble Music in 2000, performing in concert seasons such as 'Barattelli' L'Aquila, 'Sala Greppi of Bergamo', Concerts in Villa Rufolo in Ravello, ClarinetFest 2007 in Vancouver (Canada), Serenatas Musicals Claustre the Universitat de Valencia (Spain), Accademia Musicale Umbra, A.GI.MUS., Latin Music Today, Arts Academy in Rome, Accademia Musicale 'San Pietro a Majella' of Naples, III National Meeting 'The World of the Clarinet' in Perugia, Centro Studi 'E.Fromm' of Naples, Association of Music and Medicine Rome, Ripa Ripalimosani Music Festival, Concerts at Cocumella Sorrento, Summer Concerts at Villa Guariglia Vietri Sul Mare, European Music Festival, Millennium Atri, Association of South Pontino Formia, Music Academy of Lepina Privett etc.

He has performed with the Symphony Orchestra of New York, the International Chamber Ensemble, the Camerata Academica Italian, the Institution Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, the Praeludium Ensemble, Camerata Baroque. He has recorded for Edipan, EurArte, Duchesne Liege (Belgium), Agenda Music Publishing and has recorded for Vatican Radio.

And 'author of compositions, transcriptions, revisions, arrangements of songs of the jazz tradition for various ensembles, many of which already performed and recorded on CD and DVD in Italy, USA, Canada, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, from Colombia groups and soloists such as The Winds of Parma, the Quintet Bibiena, the Stark Quartet, Namaste Clarinet Quartet, the Saxophone Quartet Academy, the USAF American Clarinet Quartet, the Ebony Kwartet, the Chinook Clarinet Quartet, the Quartet of clarinets Cavallini The Quartet Saxmania, the Clarinet Quartet 'Shuger', Alessandro Carbonare, Calogero Palermo, Gaspare Tirincanti etc. Some of his works are published by The Goose of Cairo Parma, by Ut Orpheus Edizioni Bologna by Edizioni Musicali Euphony and EurArte. Often invited to serve on committees at national and international competitions, he holds the chair of 'Ensemble music for wind instruments' at the 'G. Martucci' in Salerno. Since 2006, care and leads, together with the journalist Maria Corsetti, the television show 'Friends of Music' produced by Tele ether Latin.

Internationally renowned clarinetist and educator Nancy Braithwaite has performed throughout the USA, Europe and China. As a soloist, she has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony Orchestra and others in works by Mozart, Nielsen, von Weber and Rossini. In addition, she has been very active in chamber music with repertoire encompassing more than 250 works.

Braithwaite studied with Stanley Hasty at the renowned Eastman School of Music graduating with the highest musical distinction, the Performers Certificate. While studying for her master's degree at Northwestern University with Robert Marcellus (former principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell), she worked as his teaching assistant in both clarinet and chamber music. In the USA she furthered her study with Larry Combs, former principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In Europe she earned a chamber music degree with the renowned violinist Eli Goren, former leader of the Allegri Quartet and Melos Ensemble and concertmaster of the BBC Symphony, and continued her clarinet studies with the internationally acclaimed Belgian soloist, Walter Boeykens.

At the age of 23 she won the position of principal clarinetist with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra. While there she was also chosen to participate in summer festivals in Spoleto (Italy), Maine (USA) and Tanglewood (USA).

Since moving to The Netherlands , Nancy has made a number of radio recordings, toured throughout much of Europe and performed as guest artist with Camilli Quartet, Raphael Quartet, Goffriller Quartet, Spinoza Quartet, Engadin Quartet and Trio Microcosmos in works by Mozart, Brahms, Hindemith, Bliss, Keuris, Howells and von Weber. Numerous composers have written works for her ranging in instrumentation from solo clarinet to octet.

In recent years Nancy has performed extensively as a member of the Rietveld Ensemble (violin, clarinet, cello and piano ), Selima Trio (soprano, clarinet and piano), La Rondine (winds and piano), Trio Canteloube (oboe, clarinet and bassoon), Arto Ensemble (mezzo soprano, clarinet, violin, viola and cello), Emmelos Ensemble (octet with strings and winds), Trio Clara (clarinet, viola and piano), Frühling Trio (clarinet, cello and piano), Rondine Winds (wind octet) and regularly gives recitals with piano.

Braithwaite is founder and artistic director of the series Kromme-Rijn Concerten in Bunnik in which the Arto Ensemble functions as the core group performing with a wide variety of guest artists. In addition, she founded a concert series in Utrecht with the Rietveld Ensemble in 2014.

In 2015 Nancy toured China giving master classes and recitals in four major Chinese cities and in March 2016 she will visit China again both as a jury member for a major clarinet competition in Beijing and to give master classes and recitals.

Nancy is Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Codarts) and is an active performer in the Codarts teachers’ chamber music concert series.

She endorses the Uebel Superior clarinets and is a member of the Silverstein Inspiring Pro team endorsing the Silverstein ligature and uses a Hans Colbers mouthpiece.

She is the mother of Amarins and Tsjalling Wierdsma and widow of the Dutch conductor Oane Wierdsma.

Martin studied classical saxophone at Trinity College of Music. At that time there were no jazz courses in London, but he met some future jazz musicians at the college, including pianist Simon Purcell, saxophonist Mark Lockheart and the members of saxophone quartet Itchy Fingers who were studying at RAM.

He toured Europe, South America, Africa and the USA with Itchy Fingers appearing at major jazz festivals and playing on their first two CDs Quark (Virgin Records) and Teranga (Venture). In 1986 they won the Schlitz Young Jazz Musicians of the Year Award, which was televised by the BBC.

In 1988, he left the group to develop his own projects, which have been many and diverse, and establish himself as a composer and improviser. Martin is as comfortable playing personal interpretations of the music of Charlie Parker with his quartet, free improvising with drummer Mark Sanders, playing standard ballads in duet with Ethan Iverson and Indian music with Dharambir Singh and Sarvar Sabri.

He has recorded 18 cds under his own name of 'diverse projects' including the internationally acclaimed ECM release Change Of Heart with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson and Mick Hutton. He started his own record label Pumpkin in 2007 and has released 7 cds so far. 'Spark' is a duo with drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders and 'Two not one' a duo with guitarist Colin Oxley. Two albums with Barry Green, Dave Green and Jeff Williams followed entitled 'Generations' and 'Live at Riverhouse'. 'Always a first time' featuring Mike Outram and Jeff Williams were released in 2013 and 2014 he released 'Sound Clouds' with improvising classical pianist Douglas Finch and 'The Quiet Mind' with Mark Sanders and Oren Marshall.

Martin has also performed with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson, Loose Tubes, Stan Tracey, Bhavani Shankar, Billy Jenkins, Django Bates, Bob Wilber, Conrad Herwig, Don Weller, Ronan Guilfoyle, Alison Bentley, The Style Council, Ann Pigalle, Kadam, saxophonist John Williams, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Jim Mullen, Dave Cliff, Julian Arguelles, Ephie Resnick and the Royal Shakespeare Company among others.

He is lead alto saxophonist in the London Jazz Orchestra conducted by Scott Stroman and has recently formed a project to study and learn all the compositions of Thelonious Monk with pianist/ composer/valve trombonist Hans Koller. His main creative outlet is a trio with guitarist Mike Outram and US drummer Jeff Williams performing original music. Martin is a committed jazz educator and in addition to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance he teaches at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Youth Jazz Collective Summer School.

He was external examiner at Birmingham Conservatoire for several years and also taught at Middlesex University and is guest tutor and examiner at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is also involved in a British Jazz Oral History project of his own and has interviewed a number of important musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Geoff Simkins, Dave Cliff, Pete Saberton and many others. These interviews can be read on his website at www.martinspeake.com He has a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and has his own practice for clients who want to improve their health through diet and lifestyle changes. 'Martin Speake is one of the most interesting and rewarding alto saxophonists now playing jazz on any continent.’ Thomas Conrad - Jazz Times

www.martinspeake.com Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/user/martinspeake/videos

Radovan Cavallin was born in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1969 At age 13 he entered the Academy of Music at the University of Zagreb, becoming the youngest student ever admitted in University's history. There four years later he graduated with honours and distinction.

In 1986 he was chosen from 76 candidates to enter at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where he was awarded the following prizes: 1st Prize Chamber Music unanimously class Christian Lardé in 1988 and 1st Prize Clarinet unanimously Guy in class Deplus in 1989.

During his studies in Paris, he received a scholarship four times: 1986, Ivo Pogorelich Scholarship; 1987 Scholarship Nadia Boulanger and Lily; and 1988 and 1989, French Government Scholarship.

He has received awards in the following competitions: 1st National Prize for Clarinet in Yugoslavia on 4 occasions (1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986), 1st Prize of the International Clarinet Competition in Ancona (Italy) in 1984, 2nd Prize at the International Competition Clarinet 'Dos Hermanas' in Sevilla (Spain) in 1995. He has performed over 400 solo concerts in USA, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Japan, China,Portugal, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Colombia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro.

He has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra RTV Zagreb, Zagreb Soloists, Orchestra of Belgrade, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestre National de Gottwaldov (former Czechoslovakia), Orchestra del Teatro Bologna Philharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria , Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Béla Bartók, Orchestra Franco-Belgian Brussels and Extremadura Orchestra,Symphony Dubrovnik (Croatia),Opera Orchestra of Rijeka (Croatia), St Giles Orchestra among others interpreting concertos by Francaix, Mozart, Nielsen, Stanford, Copland, Weber, Tomasi, Takemitzu, Danzi, Strauss, Bruch, Lindpeintner, Krommer, Debussy, Stanford, Leloup, Palacios, Shaw, Grgin, Adamic, Kovacevic among others!

He was also a soloist with STING at his concert Symphonicity with his band and Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria.

He has performed as a soloist at festivals in Ferrara (Italy), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Bad Hersfeld (Germany), Granada, La Orotava (Tenerife), Lanzhou (China), Brussels (Belgium), Lisbon (Portugal), Ibagué (Colombia), Lanzhou (China) and Baton Rouge (USA).

He has made recordings for labels like Yugoton, Croatia Records, BMG Arte Nova, Maguelone, AgrupArte Productions, Cristal Records, Summit Records and ASV.

He is one of the founders of the following chamber groups; Atlantis Quartet, Trio Spohr, Reinecke Quartet, Ensemble and Camerata Alisios with who he has recently made a successful tour of 5 concerts in Japan.

He has given more then 50 master classes in Japan, China, Portugal, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Slovinia and Serbia at summer school in Zagreb in 1987; Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo) from 2005 to 2016; International Course clarinet 'Julián Menéndez' (Ávila) from 2000-2016; Arucas in 2014; in Lanzarote in 2007; Teror in 2009; the 'Clarinetissimo' International Course in Brussels in 2007; the National Association of clarinet in Zagreb in 2007; at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid in 2008; Conservatory of Murcia in 2010; at a Clarinet Congress Lisbon in 2008; Ibague (Colombia) in 2011; La Orotava in 2012; in Uzmah-Upbeat, Milna Brac (Croatia) from 2008 to 2014; in Opatija (Croatia) in 2011 to 2014; Groznjan (Croatia) from 2009 to 2012; Vimm 2013, Varaždin (Croatia) 2013 in Tokyo (Japan), 2013 Kawasaki (Japan) 2014; Paris (France) 2014; Pescara (Italy) 2014; Zimm, Zagreb (Croatia), Cocentaina, Alicante (Spain) 2014 and 2014; Virovitica, Croatia, 2015 Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, United Kingdom, Beijing, Dalian, Lanzhou,China; 2015, at International Clarinet Competition in Lisbon, 2015, Vimm, Virovitica 2016, Agaete Clarinet Festival 2016. He has also been a member of the jury of several international clarinet competitions in Spain, Croatia, Portugal and the United States.

Since 1989 he is the principal clarinet of Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra with who he colaborated with conductors such as Rostropovich, Yurovsky, Norman del Mar, Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, Gunter Herbig, Leopold Hager, Gabriel Chmura, Antoni Wit among many others and Professor of Clarinet at the Academy of OFGC.

Between 2002 and 2010 he was Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music and Orchestral Repertoire at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Las Palmas, Canary Islands.

Radovan Cavallin is Selmer, Backun, 'Silverstein' and D'Addario artist and interprets on the clarinet Selmer 'Privilege' Backun MoBa 'Arabesque' Mouthpiece, the Silverstein Carbon Black Ligature and D'Addario 'Reserve Classic' Reeds.