As a schoolchild, Ulrike Höfs realized that all she wanted to become in life was a musician. After participating successfully in several music competitions and gaining first orchestra experience in the regional and national youth orchestras and the Young German Philharmonic, Ulrike Höfs originally studied under Prof. Renate Greiss-Armin, then with Prof. Peter-Lukas Graf. She already played with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie during her student days. As a partner, she has been a permanent member of the orchestra since 2003.
For her, the special thing about her favourite orchestra is the energy flow onstage and the supportive way the team pulls together.

Apart from her work with the orchestra, Ulrike Höfs enjoys playing chamber music and devoting time to her family. She loves the beaches of northern Germany, white wines from her native region of Rhine Hesse, good food and books.

The viola player Barbara Linke-Holicka was born in Prague in 1976. Initially a student at the Prague Conservatory, she later went on to study with Professor Kim Kashkashianan at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin, where she attained her degree with honours. She also completed a solo Performance Diploma with Wolfram Christ at the Freiburg College of Music.

Barbara Linke-Holicka played as one of the youngest members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the direction of Claudio Abbado in 1993. She has been awarded several prizes and also a number of scholarship awards. During her time as an academy student at the opera house in Zurich she devoted much of her attention to historical performance practices, since which time she has continued to play baroque viola. She has performed as solo viola with the Camerata Academica Salzburg, the Czech Philharmonic, the National Theatre Mannheim and the State Opera Oldenburg. She has also been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Barbara Linke-Holicka is solo viola with the Ensemble Musica Assoluta in Hannover and has given frequent performances together with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen as part of its Chamber Music Series. The Czech-born viola player has lived with her family in Bremen since 2007.

Beate Weis studied violin and string quartet in Stuttgart with Gerhard Voss in the Melos Quartet class, followed by specialized concert studies with Ernst Kovacic in Vienna. She was a prizewinner in the national ›Jugend musiziert‹ competition and a member of the State Youth Orchestra in Baden-Württemberg and the German National Youth Orchestra, as well as winning a scholarship from the DAAD and the Baden-Württemberg String Instrument Collection. She joined The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen directly after completing her studies in 1992.

Here, Beate Weis is also very active in promoting music – for example within the scope of orchestra projects such as ›Response‹, the ›Musical Paper Chase‹, concert introduction events (including ›Genial‹ in cooperation with the Bremen children’s and youth theatre, MOKS) or teaching and coaching lay musicians. As a soloist she has performed with the Bremen University Orchestra, Oldenburg Chamber Orchestra and concerto armonico Freiburg. Beate also devotes herself intensively to chamber music. She was a member of the ›Ensemble Lesmona‹ founded together with other orchestra colleagues and has her own concert series in the Bremen Silbermanufaktur Koch und Bergfeld. Here she combines programme planning with recitals.

Belgian cellist Marc Froncoux studied at the Music Colleges in both Brussels and Detmold, with Edmond Baert and Professor Andre Navarra respectively. He is the prize winner of several competitions such as the international Premio Vittorio Gui competition in Florence. On completing his studies, Marc Froncoux was appointed teacher of Professor Edmond Baert’s solo class in Brussels and also played solo cello at the Opera in Lucca, Italy.

Marc Froncoux has been solo cellist with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 1998. In his adopted North German home, he conducts the Oldenburg Chamber Orchestra and is regularly involved in chamber music courses for amateurs.

Along with The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen he has guested in many concert venues in numerous international capitals. He is one of the section leaders in the orchestra and regularly performs in the orchestra’s series of chamber music concerts.

In his free time, Marc Froncoux enjoys spending time in the country. He trains regularly for his trekking tours in the Himalayas, thus combining healthy exercise with his search for inner calm.