Bella Italia

Gordan Nikolić has been musical director of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra since 2004. For many years he has been among the greatest violinists of our time. He has been concertmaster with several orchestras and is a regular guest violinist or orchestra leader at home and abroad. Over the years he has become the face of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, which he leads in his own unique way.

Nikolić was born in 1968 in present-day Serbia. At age seven, he began playing the violin. Two years later, he went to a boarding school for violin lessons. He continued his studies with Jean-Jacques Kantorow at the Musikhochschule in Basel. There he immersed himself in the baroque violin, but also worked with modern composers such as Lutosławski and Kurtág. In 1989, he received his first appointment as concertmaster with the Orchestre d'Auvergne. From 1997 through 2017, he held the same position with the London Symphony Orchestra. There he worked with top conductors such as Colin Davis, Claudio Abbado, Valeri Gergiev and Bernard Haitink.

Nikolić does not stand as conductor for the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, but leads the musicians from the first lectern. This is because he does not want to subject the other orchestra members to his authority. He believes it is important to preserve your own musical vision, and to bring it out in the music you play. He himself says, “I'm not there to tell the other musicians what to do. I try to give an energetic or emotional direction, and then we try to find a common language.' He has since worked with the orchestra on several special productions and has made several successful CD recordings.

In recent years, Nikolić has been a guest concertmaster with orchestras such as Manchester Camerata, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Since 2007 he has been in charge of the Spain-based BandArt, an orchestra dedicated to social commitment. In addition to his activities as a violinist and orchestra leader, Nikolić teaches at the Paris Conservatoire, the Hochschule für musik in Saarbrücken and Codarts in Rotterdam.

Established as one of the foremost violinists of his generation, Stefan Milenkovich enjoys a prolific career as an internationally sought-after soloist and recitalist, with an extraordinary productive longevity, professionalism, and creativity.

He appeared on multiple occasions in some of the world’s most celebrated venues such as Carnegie Hall, New York City (USA), Kennedy Center, Washington (USA), Cadogan Hall, London (UK), Suntory Hall, Tokyo (Japan), as well as Italy’s theaters La Fenice, Venice, San Carlo, Naples, and Petruzzelli, Bari. His numerous appearances with orchestra include Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Radio-France, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Mexico State Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica de Estado de Sao Paolo, and the Melbourne and Queensland Symphonies, and has performed under the baton of such conductors as Sir Neville Marriner, Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniel Oren, Oksana Lyniv, Erina Yashima, Aziz Shokhakimov, En Shao, Mei-Ann Chen, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Lera Auerbach, Omer Meir Wellber, and Jessica Cotis.

Milenkovich’s 2024 – 2025 season includes performances with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI (Italy), Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali (Italy), Orchestra of Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste (Italy), Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (Italy), Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese (Italy), Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatia), Oltenia Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), Orchestra Sinfonica di San Remo (Italy), Profundis Chamber Orchestra (North Macedonia), Zadar Chamber Orchestra (Croatia), Belgrade Chamber Orchestra (Serbia), Muzikon Chamber Orchestra (Serbia) and Camerata Novi Sad (Serbia). This season also includes appearances at Thessaloniki Concert Season (Greece), Blisko! Chamber Music Festival (Serbia), Round Top Music Festival (USA), Jupiter Chamber Series (NYC), Hvar Summer Festival (Croatia), Krk Summer Festival (Croatia), Amadeo Scene (Croatia) as well as recitals with pianist Marta Aznavoorian at Brookings Series (USA) and Cosmos Club (USA).

Recent performances include collaboration with Utah Symphony Orchestra (USA), Prague Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic), Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra (USA), Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra (USA), Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (Italy), and Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra (Slovenia).

Milenkovich started his career at a very young age under the tutelage of his father, later to continue his studies with Igor Ozim (Bern, Switzerland) and Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School (NYC, USA). He performed for U.S. President Ronald Reagan at a Christmas concert in Washington, DC, at age 10. The following year, he played for Mikhail Gorbachev in Belgrade, Serbia. At age 14, he played for Pope John Paul II and at age 16, Milenkovich gave his 1000th concert in Monterrey, Mexico. By age 17, he was the winner of The Young Concert Artists International Competition (USA), as well as a prizewinner in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (USA), the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), Hannover Violin Competition (Germany), Tibor Varga Competition (Switzerland), Rodolfo Lipizer Competition (Italy), Paganini Competition (Italy), Ludwig Spohr Competition

(Germany), and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (England).

Deeply committed to international humanitarian causes, in 2002 Milenkovich received the Lifting Up the World with Oneness Heart award for his humanitarian activities, handed to him personally by the guru Sri Chinmoy. He also participated in a number of gala concerts under the auspices of UNESCO in Paris with such artists as Placido Domingo, Lorin Maazel, Alexis Weissenberg, and Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and was active as the First Child Ambassador in early 90’.

As a musician of broad stylistic interests, Milenkovich performed with five-time Grammy Nominee rock band Gorillaz in one of the world's most renowned venues – Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City. The critically acclaimed performance was featured live on MTV. Other collaborations include performances with Grammy Award Nominee lutist Edin Karamazov, as well as a musical partnership with guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski and his trio, where Milenkovich explored the realm of improvisation and acoustic-electric violin.

At Dubai EXPO 2022, Milenkovich presented two major projects: Serbian National String Team featuring some of the most promising young artists to represent Serbia at the EXPO, and Rock el Clasico, a musical collaboration with singer and author Nele Karajlic, launched at the Al Wasl Arena.

Milenkovich’s discography includes four commercial releases of the Italian label Dynamic, featuring J. S. Bach Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, Complete Music for Solo Violin – Nicolo Paganini 24 Capricci, N. Paganini Recital, and N. Paganini In cuor piu non mi sento. He also released numerous recordings for the Yugoslavian label, PGP. Milenkovich’s recent CD release includes a First Recording disc with the Manchester Music Festival of Vittorio Giannini’s Piano Trio and Piano Quintet.

Firmly dedicated to pedagogical work for over two decades, Milenkovich taught in collaboration with Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School in New York City, NY, and Perlman Music Program, as well as held a position as an Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Milenkovich is still the youngest graduate of the Music Academy in Belgrade, Serbia, finishing his Masters' studies at 19 years of age. Currently, Stefan Milenkovich is Artistic Director of the new concert hall in Novi Sad, Serbia, as well as Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Novi Sad.

Milenkovich plays a 1783 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin.

Renowned Croatian clarinetist Marija Pavlović was born in Dubrovnik. Her artistic journey soon extended beyond Croatia’s borders, and her drive for continued growth led her to an international career.

She graduated from the Zagreb Music Academy after which she perfected her art at the Salzburg Mozarteum in the class of Alois Brandhofer. Additionally, she worked with Walter Boeykens, Ivo Lybeert, Pascal Moraguez and Yehuda Gilad.

Marija is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the annual prize of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and the PBZ American Express award for the most successful young musician of the year (1998). She received the Würdigenpreis (2002) from the Austrian Ministry for Science and Culture in Vienna, won 1st prize at the AudiMozart Competition in Rovereto (2006), and was honored with the Poulenc Award at the International IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa (2006).

In 2011, she received the “Orlando Prize” at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival for her solo performance with Gli Archi Scaligeri, the chamber orchestra of La Scala. Her CD music…friendship, recorded with pianist Martina Filjak, earned several discographic awards, including Croatia’s Porin Award for Best Album of the Year.

In 2018 she recorded with ensemble Focus a CD "HiddenFacts" with masterpieces by Flemish composers for woodwind quintet. In 2025, she recorded a CD Verwandlung – Metamorphosis for the record label “Cantus”, together with mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupić and pianist Julia Gubajdullina.

Since 2023, she has been part of the artistic team of the Botanic Sanctuary Chamber Music Festival in Antwerp. She has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician at international festivals and has appeared across Europe, as well as in the United States, China, and Israel.

In 2018, she became Artist in Residence of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, with which she founded the chamber music festival Stradun Classic, where she serves as artistic director.

Alongside her musical career, Marija has practiced yoga and Pilates for many years, integrating these disciplines into her breathing techniques and pedagogical approach.

She is a member of the clarinet teaching team at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, together with Julien Hervé and Renaud Guy-Rousseau.

Danijel Detoni began his musical education in Zagreb in the class of Olga Detiček at the Vatroslav Lisinski Music School. He continued his studies with László Baranyay and Balázs Kecskés at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, and with Itamar Golan at the Conservatoire in Paris. He further refined his skills through work with renowned artists such as Pál Éder, Felix Gottlieb, Emanuel Krasovsky, Pnina Salzman, and Dénes Várjon.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed at prestigious festivals including Warsaw Autumn, the Zagreb Music Biennale, Musica Danubiana in Ljubljana, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Evenings, Julian Rachlin & Friends in Dubrovnik, Transeuropéennes in Rouen, Schleswig-Holstein in Hamburg, ReMusica in Pristina, Carniarmonie in Udine, and Trieste Prima in Trieste. He has collaborated with artists such as Boris Brovtsyn, Yevhen Churikov, Blaise Déjardin, Itamar Golan, Goran Jurković, Ivana Lazar, Monika Leskovar, Katarina Livljanić (as a member of the ensemble Dialogos), Gordan Nikolić, Kajana Pačko, Sanja Romić, Lucija Stilinović, Krešimir Stražanac, Irvin Venyš, Radovan Vlatković, Gordan Tudor, and Pavle Zajcev.

He has performed with conductors Nikša Bareza, Pavle Dešpalj, Tomislav Fačini, György Győriványi Ráth, Ivan Hut, Tan Lihua, Ivan Repušić, Lior Shambadal, and Vesna Šouc, alongside ensembles such as the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, UMZE Chamber Orchestra, Dušan Skovran Chamber Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, as well as Antiphonus Ensemble, Zagreb Soloists, Zagreb Quartet, and Zagreb Saxophone Quartet.

A passionate chamber musician from an early age, in April 2003 he won first prize at the Leó Weiner National Competition in Budapest as part of a duo with violinist Márta Deák, and in August 2006 he received the Israeli Isman Foundation Award for outstanding interpretation of the music of György Ligeti.

He is deeply committed to the promotion of contemporary music and has given premieres of works by Ivan Božičević, Silvio Foretić, Sara Glojnarić, Zoran Juranić, Alfi Kabiljo, Krešimir Seletković, Ivan Josip Skender, Mladen Tarbuk, and Gordan Tudor.

In 2008, he was named Best Young Musician by Croatian Music Youth. In the same year, his debut solo album featuring selected works by Dubravko Detoni was released by Croatia Records. The same label released his album Journey through Europe in 2014, and in 2018 the Belgian label Le Chant de Linos released another album in collaboration with cellist Kajana Pačko.

Since 2009, he has been teaching piano and chamber music at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb. He has given piano and chamber music workshops at music schools throughout Croatia and Serbia, as well as at music academies in Prague and Weimar.

Edith Van Dyck is a renowned orchestral flautist, soloist and teacher. She is solo flautist with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg. (NL).

As soloist, Edith’s performances include Nielsen’s Flute Concerto and Kaaji Saariaho’s concerto Aile du Songe under the direction of Stanislav Kochanovsky and Osmo Vänskä respectively.

She was a guest at the Storioni Festival, the Arbanassi Summer Music festival and the Academie della Crete Senesi.

Her CD for the Et’Cetera label of works by Prokofiev, Martinu, Roussel, Bennett and Barber celebrated many years of recitals with pianist Helene Luyten. Their recording received rave reviews in international professional journals and was awarded top marks by the Dutch music magazine Luister. She recently released a new album together with pianist Richard Shaw “Free Spirits” with work of Bax, Karg-Elert, Lieberman, Denisov, Gubaidulina, Shoot and Firsova. Inspired by the love of nature and the distinctive personal voice that unites each of the composers in this recital, Edith Van Dyck and Richard Shaw asked visual artist Bruno Van Dijck (BE) to provide images for the album cover and booklet. In his landscapes, Van Dijck is always looking for the genius loci, the spirit of the place.

In addition to her performing career, Edith is an enthusiastic pedagogue. She works as a principal subject teacher at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg (NL) and founded Flute Studio: under this name Edith organizes a range of short, concentrated workshops, exploring specific themes with participants.

Edith was the driving force and founder of the Summer Course for Winds. This course offers young professional musicians a short, intensive training with a special focus on performing better under pressure, with mental coaching and audition training.

At the Royal Academy of Music in London Edith won the prestigious J&J Brough Flute Prize and the Chris Taylor Flute Award. She was a laureate of the Belgian competition “Belfius Classics”.

In addition to her busy professional life, Edith is an active mother of several beautiful daughters.

A native of San Francisco (USA), Mirabai Weismehl Rosenfeld joined the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in 2018 as Concertmaster. Previously, she was chosen by international audition in New York by the late Music Director Lorin Maazel as a founding member of the 1st violin section of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Spain (OCV), also frequently conducted by Zubin Mehta. She has recorded with the OCV, the Orquestra de Cadaques and with clarinet soloist Joan Enric Lluna. As Concertmaster, Mirabai has also led the Rivera Camerata and the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas.

Honors include the 1998 Josef Gingold Award and the 1998 Kaufman Violin Prize (Ohio). As the First Prize winner of the Marin Symphony Young Artist Competition, Mirabai made solo appearances with the Marin Symphony (California) and Lancaster Music Festival Orchestra (Ohio).

She holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (Artist Diploma,

Concertmaster Academy), Longy School of Music (Master of Music with

Distinction) and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance and a Minor in Modern Dance). Her principal professors were William Preucil, Joseph Silverstein, Almita and Roland Vamos, and Zoya Leybin. In addition, she has studied chamber music with Emanuel Ax and members of the Alexander, Cavani, Cleveland, Colorado, Emerson, Griller, Juilliard, Miami, Muir, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and Vermeer String Quartets.

A firm believer in education for the future success of music, she has served as faculty at the Valencia International University (Spain), Residències de Música de Cambra (Godella, Spain), Weston Community Music Center (Florida), Burbank School (Massachusetts), Sequoia Chamber Music Festival (California), Oberlin Conservatory Preparatory Department (Ohio), and as Violin Coach and Assistant Conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra. In addition, as a WorldTeach volunteer, she donated a year (2004-05) as an English teacher for over 650 students in Changsha, Hunan, China.

Cellist Mihaela Martinović has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States as a soloist, recitalist, and a chamber musician. As a young student of the Music School "Luka Sorkočević," she has won numerous prizes at national and international competitions. Towards the end of her high school education in the class of prof. Vanda Đanić in Dubrovnik, she continued her studies at the Music School "Elly Bašić" in Zagreb in the class of prof. Dobrila Berković-Magdalenić. As a recipient of Dubrovnik scholarship, Mihaela successfully graduated high school in Zagreb, and started college education in Texas on a full scholarship. In 2011, Mihaela graduated summa cum laude with Masters degree from University of North Texas under Elizabeth Morrow and Nikola Ružević. In addition, Mihaela specialized in Early music in the class of Lyle Nordstrom. As a "Dean's List" student and a performer, Ms. Culjak has been invited to many music festivals, including Boston Early Music Festival, Neuberg an der Mürz, TCU Cellofest, ASTA Convention, Upbeat Japan, and many more. She has performed in master classes with distinguished cellists and chamber musicians such as Eleonore Schoenfeld, Bernard Greenhouse, Amit Peled, Alisa Weilerstein, Phoebe Carrai, Pieter Wispelwey, as well as The Juilliard and Pražák String Quartets. Mihaela graduated summa cum laude with a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Michigan in 2014, as one of the top 1% students. Under Anthony Elliott's mentorship, Mihaela chose European (especially Balkan) folklore music and its influences onto classical music as her PhD topic. In addition, she was also awarded an assistantship. As an assistant, she taught String and Cello methods classes, as well as private cello lessons. In September 2016, Mihaela became a permanent member of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, holding a principal cellist position. Ms. Culjak’s enthusiasm for all types of music has made her an avid performer on both, period and modern cello, playing all styles of music. Yet, as a passionate chamber musician, she has performed benefit concerts for the Cure, the Japan earthquake, the Gulf Coast Hurricane, as well as some educational children’s concerts.

Justus Grimm received his first introductory cello lessons at the age of five at first from his father, followed by studies with Ulrich Voss, Claus Kanngiesser and later with Frans Helmerson in Stockholm and Cologne. He proved his outstanding talent in various competitions. Playing alongside the pianist Florian Wiek, he also won the first prize in the Maria Canals music competition in Barcelona and was also awarded the prize of the German Music Council.

Justus Grimm's solo and chamber music performances took him throughout Europe. The beginning of his career in 1993 was marked by his splendid performance as a soloist in the première by Matthias Pintscher's cello concert "La Metamorfosi di Narciso" with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and continued to maintain his solo performance in cooperation with many other orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Ukrainian National Orchestra, Nürnberg Philharmonic, the Lithuanian National Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie, the Bonn Classical Philharmonic or the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt.

As part of his performances, Justus Grimm was already a guest in many of the most renowned concert halls in the world like the Berlin Philharmonic, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Cologne Philharmonic, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, the Atheneum Bucarest, the Munich Hercules Hall or the Cultural Centre in Lisbon.

Justus Grimm made his remarkable chamber music career together with renowned artists like Abdel Raman El Bacha, Gerard Caussé, Alexander Lonquich, Diana Ketler or Stephen Kovacevich. He accepted invitations to major festivals, including the Ludwigsburg Festspiele, the Festival van Vlaanderen, Festival Musiq3, Lisbon’s Dias da Musica, the Florilegio Salamanca Festival, SoNoRo Romania, Thy Chambermusic Festival, Intonations Berlin, Forte Music Fest Almaty, Storioni Festival Eindhoven, Cantiere Di Montepulciano, Brussel’s Klara Music Festival or the Chiemgau Musikfrühling.

Besides live recordings by many European radio stations there are already numerous CD records. Worth mentioning here is a CD, Trio Wiek (Christina Fassbender, Justus Grimm and Florian Wiek) with works by Philippe Gaubert, who was awarded a 5/5 rating by the French magazine Diapaison. Two releases in 2025 including the Poulenc Sonata and the Concertino of Hans Gál with the Sinfonietta Riga.

Teaching plays a central role in the artistic life of Justus Grimm. Following tutorship at the Brussels Chapelle Reine Elisabeth (2002-2003) and at the Institut Superieur de Musique de Namur (2003-2008), he held the title as professor for violoncello at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp in 2008, where he acts also as the Artistical Director since 2013.

He plays a violoncello dated 1760 of P.A. Testore.

During the season 25/26 Justus Grimm will join International Festivals/Concerts as soloist and teacher in Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Romania, Germany, Poland, Lithuania or USA ( arnegie Hall).

Krešimir Petar Pustički was born in Zagreb in 1975. From an early age, he demonstrated perfect pitch and exceptional musical talent. Throughout his education, he received top honours at national competitions, and at the age of twenty he graduated in viola from the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, where he studied with Professor Ante Živković. In 2009, he also earned a Master of Arts degree from the same institution.

He is currently a Full Professor at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb. Alongside his academic career, he is actively engaged in sound engineering and music production, becoming one of Croatia's most sought-after recording engineers and producers. He has received seven Porin Awards for Best Classical Music Album.

"Krešimir Petar Pustički is one of our finest musicians—not only among violists, but among string players in general. He is distinguished by a beautiful tone of remarkable richness and power, outstanding technical mastery, deep musicality, and thoughtful interpretation."— V. Požgaj

"The artist's performance achieved a rare unity of interpretative expression, combining thoughtful insight with complete fidelity to the score, thereby revealing the exceptional quality of this young violist."— D. Komanov

"His performance of Ernest Bloch's Suite Hébraïque displayed complete technical command, even in the most intricate virtuoso passages, while at the same time conveying a compelling sense of ease and freedom, allowing the work's oriental colours and ritual dance rhythms to unfold with full expressive vitality."
— B. Pofuk

"The simple closing Lutheran chorale, Before Thy Throne I Now Appear (Hindemith's Trauermusik*), carried the listener on a journey beyond the earthly realm—to that indefinable dimension that separates truly great music-making from everyday experience and elevates it to a higher spiritual plane."*— T. Matasović

Pieter Nuytten (°1980) took bassoons lessons with Koen Coppé at the age of 15 and studied at the conservatories of Antwerp, Cologne and Basel with Francis Pollet, Danny d’Haene (contrabassoon), Prof. Georg Klütsch and Sergio Azzolini.

As a student Pieter was selected for the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra (Japan) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. Early on he worked with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink and Ivan Fischer.

In 2004 he was chosen as principal in the Orchestra of the Opera de Rouen – Haute Normandie and since 2007 in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. His subsequent Chief Conductors were Valery Gergiev, Yannick Nézet Séguin and Lahav Shani. As a guest principal Pieter appeared with orchestras such as the Radio Philharmonic Hilversum, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the KBS Symphony Orchestra Seoul, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Nelssons), the Orchestra of the Opera of Rome, the Orchestra dell'Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Sokhiev) and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam (Harding/Fischer/Mäkelä). During the 2014-15 season he was also principal in the Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin under Marek Janowski.

He is passionate about chamber music and had the privilege to work with musicians as Nicholas Daniel, Jonathan Kelly, Priya Mitchell, Natacha Kudritskaya, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Vineta Sareika and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. Pieter participated in Festivals like Classic Con Brio Osnabrück, Storioni Festival Eindhoven, Schiermonnikoog International Chamber Music Festival, Stradun Classic in Dubrovnik and Arbanassi Summer Music (Bulgaria). Pieter is a founding member of the Antwerp based Focus, de Bewoners, the Kölner Kammersolisten and performs as a regular guest with Oxalys (Brussels).

In 2001 Pieter made his debut in Mozarts Sinfonia Concertante in Bozar, Brussels. Since then he performed numerous concerti and concertante by Kalevy Aho, Peter Maxwell Davies, Bach, Haydn, Vivaldi, Weber, Strauss and Mozart. Different performances were broadcasted live on Radio Klara and NPO 4.

Pieter teaches at the Conservatoires of Rotterdam and Ghent. He initiated and organised the Ghent Bassoon Festival in 2014 and taught masterclasses in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Seoul, Kaohsiung, Linz, Buenos Aires and Lima.

Tom Owen was born in Sussex, England and studied in London and Hannover. He has given oboe master classes and recitals in the Central Conservatory Beijing, China Conservatory, Beijing, Shanghai Conservatory, the NRW Orchesterzentrum in Dortmund, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Musikhochschulen of Köln, Hannover, Stuttgart, Detmold, Kattowitz, Ljubijana, Zagreb and Trossingen. He also gives Masterclasses in Atri, Italy in the festival „Duchi d'Acquaviva“. From 2017-2019 Tom was a member of the wind chamber music faculty at the Folkwang University Essen, and he regularly coaches the sectional wind rehearsals for various orchestras including the Junge Deutsche and Schleswig Holstein Music Festival Orchestra Academy, where he also sits in the jury for the wind auditions. He was also in the jury for the International Double Reed Soceity Norma Hooks competition in 2024.

Tom is a principal oboist of the Gürzenich Orchester, resident in the Cologne Philharmonie and Opera House. He also enjoys a busy career as guest Principal Oboist in many of Europe’s leading orchestras including the NDR, WDR, SWR and both Berlin radio orchestras, Camerata Salzburg, the Gewandhaus, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham and Bamberg symphony orchestras and the opera houses in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

Tom has worked as a Soloist with many orchestras, including performances and recordings of both the Strauss and Mozart concertos with the Gürzenich Orchestra under conductors Francois Xavier Roth and Markus Stenz. In addition, he has played recitals at the Royal Festival Hall and the Wigmore Hall, London. A passionate Chamber Musician, Tom is also a founder and was Vice Chairman of the Cologne Chamber Music Society "KammermusikKöln" for five years, supporting two busy Chamber Series’ in Cologne and Bonn. From these live concerts, over 50 Chamber Music works are available to hear on YouTube. Tom has performed with the German Linos Ensemble and recorded with the Calamus Ensemble in addition to working with his own ensemble, the Cologne Chamber Soloists, who recorded the first Gerald Finzi Chamber Music album under the "MDG" Label. He has performed in festivals all over the world and was named associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2015. Since 2023 he teaches at the Conservatorium Maastricht in Holland. Tom also loves to play Keyboards in various Bands, jazz piano and composes commercial music.

One of the leading instrumentalists of his generation, Radovan Vlatković has travelled the globe performing extensively as a soloist and popularizing the horn as recording artist and teacher.

Born in Zagreb in 1962 he completed his studies with Professor Prerad Detiček at the Zagreb Academy of Music and Professor Michael Höltzel at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany. Radovan Vlatković is the recipient of many first prizes in national and international competitions, including the Premio Ancona in 1979 and the ARD Competition in Munich in 1983 – the first to be awarded to a horn player for fourteen years. This led to numerous invitations to music festivals throughout Europe including Salzburg, Vienna, Edinburgh and Dubrovnik to name but a few, the Americas, Australia, Israel, Korea as well as regular appearances in Japan.

From 1982 until 1990 he served as Principal Horn with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (now Deutsches Symphonie Orchester) under Maestros Riccardo Chailly and Vladimir Ashkenazy. From 1992 to 1998 he held the post of Horn Professor at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. 1998 he became Horn Professor at the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 2000 he holds the Horn Chair “Canon” at the “Queen Sofia” School in Madrid.

Radovan Vlatković has appeared as soloist with many distinguished symphony and chamber orchestras including the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Munich Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, Mozarteum Orchestra, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra Rome, Rotterdam Philharmonie, the orchestras of Berne, Basel and Zürich, the Lyon and Strassbourg Orchestras, NHK Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan and Yomiuri Orchestra, Adelaide and Melbourne Orchestras.

From 2000 – 2003 he has been Artistic Director of the September Chamber Music Festival in Maribor, Slovenia. He regularly performs with András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Elmar Schmid and Klaus Thunemann. Very much in demand as chamber musician he has performed at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus, Svyatoslav Richter’s December Evenings in Moscow, Oleg Kagan and Natalia Gutman’s Kreuth, Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro, András Schiff’s Mondsee, Vicenza and Ittingen Festivals as well as Kuhmo, Prussia Cove and Casals Festival in Prades.

Radovan Vlatković has participated in first performances of works by Elliott Carter, Sofia Gubaidulina, Heinz Holliger and several Croatian composers who have written concertos for him. In May 2008 he premiered the Horn Concerto written for him by Krzysztof Penderecki together with the Bremen Philharmonic and the composer conducting. There were further performances in Japan, Taiwan as well as in Poland for the occasion of the composers seventy-fifth birthday. Further performances are scheduled for Germany, Spain, Italy and Croatia as well as a performance in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with his former Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester under Vladimir Ashkenazy. In the season 2008/09 Vlatkovic continued his activity as “artist-in-Residence” with the Verdi Orchestra in Milano.

Radovan Vlatković has received the German Critics Award for several of his discs. His numerous recordings include Mozart and Strauss Concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra and Jeffrey Tate, works by Saint-Saens with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and Jean-Jacques Kantorow, the Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings with Neil Jenkins and the Oriol Ensemble in Berlin, Concertos for two horns by Leopold Mozart and Fasch with Herrmann Baumann and Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields and Iona Brown. More recordings including chamber music have been issued by EMI, DECCA, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Teldec, Dabringhaus & Grimm and Denon labels.

In 2014 Vlatković was awarded an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (Hon RAM), an honour bestowed upon only 300 distinguished musicians worldwide.

Radovan Vlatković plays a full double horn Model 20 M by Paxman of London.

Šimun Končić was born in 1991 in Dubrovnik, where he finished elementary and high music school in the classes of prof. Ivančica Kalanj and prof. Evelina Šegović. He continued his education at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he graduated in the class of prof. Milan Čunko.

He has won numerous awards at national competitions in solo and chamber categories. He attended courses with distinguished professors: Bruno Giuranna, H.P. Ochsenhofer, Pavle Zajcev …

Since 2017 he has been a viola principal in the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra.

Frano Kakarigi (Dubrovnik, 1959) began his double bass studies at the “Luka Sorkočević” Music School in Dubrovnik in the class of Professor Pero Bošković, and continued at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Professor Josip Novosel, graduating in 1983. He pursued postgraduate studies at the École Normale de Musique in Paris as a French government scholarship holder (1985–86), and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he studied with Stuart Sankey. He has received numerous awards, including Second Prize at the 15th Yugoslav Young Artists Competition (1981; first prize was not awarded), the “Darko Lukić” Award (1982), the “Popović-Bukovinac” Foundation Award (1982), and the University of Zagreb Award (1983).

He worked as principal double bassist of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (1982–86), and in 1988 moved to Spain, where he became a member of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. From 1991 until his retirement in 2024, he served as principal double bassist of the Granada City Orchestra.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed not only in Croatia but also in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Portugal, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain. He has appeared at festivals such as the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Evenings on Grič, Hvar Summer Festival, the Opatija Festival of Contemporary Music, Rovinj Music Meetings, Meetings of Music Academies in Ljubljana, the Granada Festival, the Alicante Festival, Bass-Fest in Reading, the Ludwig Streicher Festival in Santiago de Compostela, Barcelona Bass Meeting, Double Bass Meetings in Cetinje, and the Stradun Classic Festival in Dubrovnik. Notable collaborations include Valter Dešpalj, the Slovenian Piano Quartet, Uroš Lajovic, Stuart Sankey, Atabal Percussion, Trio Arbós, José Luis Estellés, and Claude Delangle.

He recorded an LP for the label Yugoton (now Croatia Records) featuring works by Dittersdorf and M. Kelemen, a recording for S-Tone Records in Prague (works for double bass and guitar), and a release for the Granada-based label Geometría del Desconcierto, featuring works composed for him as well as his own compositions.

He has taught double bass and chamber music at conservatories in Granada and Murcia, and has served as a sectional coach in youth orchestras in Portugal, Spain, Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia, and the Canary Islands.

A self-taught composer, he has written more than thirty works, mainly for double bass, as well as for various instrumental and vocal-instrumental ensembles.