Dutch violinist Quirine Scheffers is a versatile and passionate chambermusician and first associate concertmaster of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Quirine performs throughout Europe both as a soloist and chamber musician, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zürich and the Philharmonie Berlin. Concert tours took her to France, Italy, Portugal, England, Slovenia, Romania and Poland. She appears as a regular guest in the Orlando Festival, Peter de Grote Festival, Festival du Lubéron France,the Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg- Vorpommern Festival and Port Fairy Spring Music Festival (Au), collaborating with musicians such as Ronald Brautigam, members of the Borodin Quartet and Karl Leister. Quirine is violinist of the Brunsvik String Trio, primarius of the Daniel Quartet and appears regularly as a guest concertmaster with other orchestras.

Besides performing, Quirine likes to share her experiences with young talented musicians. She is a teacher at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and a jury member of the Dutch National Violin Competition and the National Prinses Christina Competition.

Quirine studied at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague with Theodora Geraets and completed her Masters degree (cum laude) with Peter Brunt. She continued her solo diploma with Krzysztof Wegrzyn in Hannover.

Quirine attended masterclasses with Zakhar Bron, Herman Krebbers, Maurizio Fuks and Thomas Brandis. In chamber music she was coached by members of the Amadeus, Borodin and the Juilliard Quartet. She had the great opportunity to work with composers such as György Kurtag and Sofia Gubaidulina on their compositions. Her passion for chamber music is evident as the former primarius of the Rubens Quartet, prizewinner of numerous international string quartet competitions. The quartet was also awarded the 'Philip Morris Finest Selection', a very prestigious award for Dutch musicians.

Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir comes from Reykjavík, Iceland. Her musical education took her to the Juilliard School in New York and later to Germany. She was always drawn to playing chamber music and has been invited to many prestigious Festivals around the world. Ásdís has been a member of many wonderful ensembles; most notably as principal viola of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the violist of the Miami, Chilingirian and Utrecht string quartets. She has made numerous cd and radio recordings with these ensembles. More recently she has made several cd’s for Zefir records. Her double cd with the title ‘The Voice of the Viola in times of oppression’ with the pianist Marcel Worms was chosen as cd of the year 2019 and given a 10 by the Dutch music magazine Luister. They include works by some less well known Jewish composers and some better known great masters such as Shostakovich, Weinberg and Mendelsohn. With her string trio, the Brunsvik String Trio, she recorded the complete String Trios of Beethoven for the composer’s 250th anniversary. Her most recent cd recording will come out in January 2022 and has the title ‘Stolen Schubert’. This CD has her transcriptions for viola of works by Schubert; the Arpeggione Sonata, Hirt Auf dem Felsen, Auf dem Stom and songs from the Winterreise. It is recorded with gut strings on the viola and an Erard piano from 1851, with the pianist Edward Janning and the soprano Katharine Dain.

Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir has previously been on the faculty of the Trinity College and the Royal College of Music in London and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She currently teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory The Hague. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Association of Body Mapping Educators. Body Mapping is a method for preventing physical injuries in musicians that grew out of the Alexander Technique and is an integral part of her teaching.

A new edition of her arrangement for viola of the Fantasias for Gamba by G.F. Telemann will be published by the French publisher Billaudot in 2022.

Mick Stirling studied the cello at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn and Raphael Wallfisch. He continued his studies at the Banff Centre, Canada and with Lawrence Lesser at the New England Conservatory in Boston, USA. Other important mentors were David Takeno, Hans Keller, Louis Krasner, Eugene Lehner, Colin Carr and Bernard Greenhouse. From 1989 to 1997 Michael was the cellist of the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany. He was also a member of the Raphael Ensemble (string sextet, London) for eight years who recorded many CDs for Hyperion. In 1997 he joined the Brindisi Quartet in London where he lived and worked for nine years. During this period he played with many chamber music groups and as guest principle cellist with various orchestras including: The Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Mick moved to Amsterdam in 2004 and became first principle cellist of the Radio Philharminic Orchestra in the Netherlands in 2004. He was a regular guest of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for many years. Michael is also a member of Nieuw Amsterdams Peil, The Brunsvik String Trio and plays a great deal of chamber music in general. He recorded the cello concerto by Hindemith (Kammermusik no. 3) for RCA with Marcus Stenz and the Ensemble Modern which won the German Critic's Prize. His ensemble the Brunsvik String Trio recorded the complete string trios of Beethoven on CD for Zefir records in 2020. A further CD of Mozart’s ‘Divertimento’ is coming out in 2022.

Mick’s cello is a beautiful example of the London maker Joseph Hill from 1770.