Henja Semmler - Violin

Born in 1979, the Berlin violinist Henja Semmler is soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician in equal parts. She has been a laureate of the L.Spohr Competition, of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, of numerous German conservatory competitions, and of the Premio Franco Gulli, resulting in concerts in Europe, the United States and Japan. As a member of the Kastalia Quartet and the violin duo Duo Briner-Semmler, as a soloist, and as a chamber music partner with musicians such as Kolja Blacher, Tabea Zimmermann and Natalia Gutman, she has performed at some of the most prominent European festivals, including the Berliner Festwochen, the Rheingau Musikfestival, the Heidelberger Frühling and with the Young Artists in Concert Davos. She debuted as a soloist at the age of 17 in the Philharmonie in Berlin and in following years has appeared as soloist with, amongst others, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the World Youth Orchestra and the Davos Festival Orchestra. A founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, she works regularly with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, and Pierre Boulez.
Henja also dedicates herself to early music performance practice, contemporary music, and playing the viola. She received her training from, amongst others, Rainer Kussmaul, Thomas Brandis and Gerhard Schulz. Her studies also benefited from generous support of the Studienstiftung, the DAAD and the Deutscher Musikinstrumentenfonds.

Rouven Schirmer - Cello

Rouven Schirmer, born in 1976, is active as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. As duo partner with pianist, Konrad Maria Engel, and founding member of the Berliner Cellharmoniker he is the winner of numerous prizes in national and international chamber music competitions. With these ensembles he has performed in renowned concert halls such as the Philharmonie in Berlin and took part in music festivals across Europe and Asia. He is a recipient of the Studienstiftung and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb scholarships and has been an intern with the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 to 2002. During this time, he played under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle or Claudio Abbado. As a soloist, Rouven has performed with various orchestras and gave the German Premiere of Jan Novák’s Capriccio for cello and orchestra. Rouven studied with Friedrich-Jürgen Sellheim, Klaus Heitz and Wolfgang Boettcher and received further musical training from Ludwig Quandt, Ralph Kirshbaum and Heinrich Schiff. He regularly appears on radio and television broadcasts and has released several CDs.

Jonathan Aner - Piano

Born in Israel in 1978, Jonathan Aner has performed as a soloist with Israel's leading orchestras, including with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. He has won major piano and chamber music international competitions in Melbourne, Florence, Senigallia, Berlin, Weimar and at the European Chamber Music Competition in France. Described as “a chamber musician par excellence” (Frankfurter Rundschau) Jonathan is a member of the Brillaner Duo with clarinetist Shirley Brill. A former member of the Tel Aviv Trio, he has also collaborated with violists Tabea Zimmermann and Michael Tree, as well as with the Borromeo and the Jerusalem String Quartets in such prestigious concert halls as the Berliner Philharmonie, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, the Carnegie Hall in New York and in the Bergen International Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. A student of Arie Vardi, he also worked closely with pianists Murray Perahia and András Schiff. Parallely, he studied Fortepiano with Zvi Meniker. Jonathan is also dedicated to coaching piano and chamber music master classes throughout the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. Jonathan is a recipient of the America Israel Cultural Foundation grants.