Japanese-born Naoki Kitaya has studied with Nikolaus
Harnoncourt, Johann Sonnleitner and Andreas Staier and has
taught basso continuo at the Musikhochschule Zürich. He has been
praised for his passionate playing, his technical finesse, his
variety of sound and his improvisational flair. He performs as a
soloist and frequently collaborates with renowned artists. His
solo CD Louis Couperin and Johann Sebastian Bach,
as well as his CD recordings with duo partner Maurice Steger
(recorder) have been greatly appraised by the press and won
several awards.
The Romanian soprano Teodora Gheorghiu studied at the
Academy of Music in Cluj and has been awarded several
distinguished prizes at international singing competitions. She
has sung leading roles, in operas such as Händel’s Oreste
and Mozart’s Zauberflöte and has appeared at the
Staatsoper in Vienna, the Théâtre La Monnaie in Brussels and the
Luzerner Theater.
Violinist Igor Karsko has been a member of Camerata Lysy,
the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and was
appointed first concertmaster of the State Philharmonic of
Kosice. He is a member of
The Serenade
Strings Trio, which was the
first-prize winner of the International Chamber Music
Competition of Caltanissetta in 1991,
of the Swiss Nonet, Les Musiciens du Louvre with Marc Minkowski
and founder member of the baroque ensemble La Gioconda.
Violinist Jana Karsko studied the violin with Karol
Petroczi and Jiri Tomasek and graduated from the Menuhin Academy
in Gstaad, Switzerland, where she studied with Alberto Lysy. She
has been the prize-winner of various competitions in
Czechoslovakia and was a member of Camerata Lysy. Currenty, she
is a member of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and appears as a
soloist in several European countries.
Renate Steinmann
studied the violin and the viola at the Musikhochschule
Winterthur. Later, she was trained on the performance on period
instruments with John Holloway and Thomas Hengelbrock and
studied with Elizabeth Wallfisch in London. She is principal
violinist with the St. Galler Chamber Ensemble under the
direction of Rudolf Lutz, with whom she has a long-standing
artistic collaboration in orchestral work and with Musica
Inaudita, under the direction of Mathias Weilenmann. She is a
professor of violin and viola at the Kantonsschule Wettingen.
Cellist Felix Knecht studied the modern cello in Basel
and Biel. He was specialised on the baroque cello in Brussels,
where he studied with Hidemi Suzuki and at the Schola Cantorum
Basiliensis with Christoph Coin. He has collaborated with
various ensembles, such as Ensemble La Fenice, Freiburger
Barockorchester, Ensemble Café Zimmermann Paris, Ensemble Gilles
Binchois, Les Cornets Noir, Venice Baroque Orchestra, La Cetra
Basel, Capriccio Basel, Ensemble Turicum and Musica Fiorita
Sofie Vanden Eynde
studied the lute and theorbo at the Ghent Conservatory and at
the Schola Contorum Brasiliensis with Hopkinson Smith. She has
gained an international reputation as a specialist in historical
plucked instruments and has participated in various opera
projects with Christophe Rousset, Paul Mc Creesh and Howard
Arman. She appears with Capriccio Basel, Les Cornets Noirs,
Nutmeg and Ginger, La Cecchina and the Velos Ensemble, of which
she is co-founder.
