Saskia Niehl began learning to play the violin at the age of five and has been active in numerous orchestras since the age of nine. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the Freiburg College of Music and her master’s degree in orchestral music at the University of the Arts, Berlin. This young violinist has been a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie since 2016. She was concertmaster of the University Orchestras in Freiburg and Berlin and at Hanover College of Music, Media and the Arts where she is currently a member of Elisabeth Kufferath’s soloist class.

In addition, Saskia has performed as soloist with the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder) and has deputised with many other orchestras such as the Kammerakademie Potsdam or the Hamburg Camerata.

Saskia is also equally at home in the realm of chamber music. Since 2018, she has been a member of the NERIDA Quartet, with which she has already received several prizes, including the Boris Pergamenschikow Competition Berlin and the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition.

Julia Pałęcka first studied violin and viola in Warsaw and then continued her studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (UMFC) in Warsaw with Konstanty Andrzej Kulka. A year later, she began her viola studies with Hartmut Rohde at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She has also attended numerous masterclasses.

Julia Pałęcka has won prizes at many international and national viola and chamber music competitions and has performed at international music festivals, including the IMS Prussia Cove, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Zermatt Festival and Manchester Music Festival, as well as many others. She has worked with many prominent musicians, including Bruno Giuranna, Kim Kashkashian, Miguel da Silva, Philip Setzer, Sergey Malov, Lukas Hagen, Noah Bendix-Balgley and Wolfgang Böttcher. She has also performed in major concert halls such as the Berlin and Warsaw Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and others. From 2021 to 2023 she was a member of the Kurt Sanderling Academy of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

During his studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Jeffrey Armstrong was awarded numerous prizes, most notably the Principal’s Prize for outstanding contribution to the life of the conservatoire. He is currently enrolled in the solo class of Elisabeth Kufferath at the Hanover College of Music, Media and the Arts. In addition, Jeffrey has worked with and received memorable masterclasses from musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos, Lawrence Power, Antje Weithaas, and Eberhard Feltz among others

As a soloist, this young violinist has already performed many concerts including with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa. He recently won first prize in the UNISA National Music Competition, leading to a performance and recording with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Jeffrey regularly appears as a guest at the Wye Valley Music Festival in England. This violinist is also involved in other projects including the Cape Chamber Music Collective, which he jointly founded in South Africa, as well as the musical education project ›Arco Project‹ for disadvantaged children in Soweto, Johannesburg.

Grace Leehan began violin lessons aged seven and received viola tuition from the age of eleven. She learned both instruments while studying for her bachelor’s degree at the University of Auckland with Stephen Larsen, where she was awarded ›First Class Honours‹ and the Senior Scholar Award. Grace finally decided to devote herself to the viola and continued her studies with Andra Darzinsat the Stuttgart College of Music and Performing Arts, where she is currently completing her master’s degree.

Grace received a comprehensive musical education which included chamber music, orchestra and also solo playing. Since chamber music is one of her passions, she has participated in various ensembles that have won awards at important competitions and is currently a member of the NERIDA Quartet. As a soloist, Grace is also a prizewinner in the New Zealand National Concerto Competition and the Gisborne International Music Competition. Grace’s orchestra experience includes performances with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. She was also a member of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, where she became an academy student.

Rebecca Falk, born in 1998, was initially a junior student at the Musikhochschule Freiburg for four years. She studied cello and piano with Beverley Ellis, Elena Cheah and Christoph Sischka. From 2017 to 2023, she studied with Troels Svane at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, later in Hanover with Alvin Wong. She is now continuing her Master’s degree in Leipzig with Prof Peter Bruns. This passionate young musician has already won several prizes with her cello playing, including numerous special prizes at WESPE and four first national prizes at Jugend musiziert. In 2015, she was also awarded the Eduard Söring Prize of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben together with pianist Viktor Soos. In the same year, she completed a traineeship with the Sinfonieorchester Basel. She also won a place in the orchestra academy with Lübeck Philharmonie and has been a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie for a number of years.

In addition to performances throughout Germany, this young cellist has already given concerts in France, Switzerland, Denmark, Hungary and Bolivia. In summer 2019, she performed with Janine Jansen, Amihai Grosz and Jens Peter Maintz at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. As a passionate chamber musician, she also performs regularly with the Luboš Ensemble and Trio Phi. As passing on the joy of music is also a matter close to her heart, until very recently she also taught at the Musik und Kunstschule Lübeck.