Bios

Angelika Bachmann, Violin

Due to her exceptional musical talent Angelika was exempt from regular school attendance by the Senate of Hamburg as a child. Thus, she was able to focus completely on her musical career.

She has been performing with orchestras such as the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra as a soloist since the age of seven as well as gaining her first experiences in front of the camera and winning numerous national “Jugend musiziert” awards.

Amongst others, Angelika studied with Roland Greutter, the first concertmaster of the NDR Symphony Orchestra. For many years she had been scholarship recipient of the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation and a member of the jury of the LTM award.

Several of her latest arrangements will be published in 2007 by Breitkopf & Härtel publishers. In addition to her musical studies Angelika holds a degree in German literature and philosophy.

Iris Siegfried, Violin and Vocals

As winner of the “Jugend musiziert” award Iris very early gained credit for her musical gift. Later she demonstrated her vocal talent as active member of several choirs and a capella groups.

In addition to her musical career, Iris attended law school and passed her second state examination in 2000. Since then she has been working as lawyer with a law firm in Hamburg specializing in competition and copyright law.

In addition, she earned a second post-graduate degree as arts manager from the Hamburg Academy for Music and Drama. Yet, - home is where the heart is - Iris loves to make music: Together with Angelika she founded the quartet Salut Salon in 2000.

Anne-Monika von Twardowski

Anne had her first piano lesson at six years of age. In 2002 she took up her studies in instrument teaching at the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck, North Germany, under the instruction of Barbara Martini.

After a semester abroad at the Escola Superior de Música Catalunya in Barcelona with Prof. Pierre Reach and Prof. Alan Branch, she completed her degree in September 2007 with the grade “very good”. Since October 2008 she has been continuing her artistic training at the Hochschule für Musik, in Lübeck, with Prof. Jacob Leuschner, and from 2009 with David Meier. Anne-Monika began to perform as a soloist early on and has won prizes in numerous competitions.

Master courses with Elisabeth Leonskaja at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival round out her training.

Sonja Lena Schmid

Sonja studied cello and chamber music in Hamburg, Amsterdam and The Hague on a Huygens Scholarship, a programme initiated by the Dutch government, and also with the help of a grant from German news weekly “ZEIT”, provided by German trust Musikleben.

She has been awarded numerous prizes, including 1st prize in the competition Elise Meyer, 1st prize at the International Chamber Music Festival “Charles Hennen”, The Netherlands, and a special prize at the international competition “Schubert and Modern Music” in Graz for the most outstanding interpretation of a contemporary work.

In 2006 she was chosen for the Dutch programme “Top Talent” and awarded sponsorship by the Villa Musica. She is currently completing further study courses with Prof. Troels Svane at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in North Germany.

The quartet is completed
by two alternating line-ups

On Piano

Jennifer Rüth was born in Würzburg, in southern Germany, and started learning the piano when she was six. In 1996 she was accepted at the Hermann Zilcher Konservatorium, where she entered a young musicians’ class under Michael Schlüter. While Jenny was studying at the conservatory in Würzburg, she won several national awards in the famous German competition "Jugend musiziert” and at 17, the German Music Council selected her as soloist on a concert tour with the Sliven symphony orchestra.

After finishing her schooling, Jenny headed first for Spain, where she studied piano under Cecilio Tieles Ferrer at the Conservatorio de Villa Secca. Then in 2005, she completed her studies at Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, under Prof. Andras Hamary, main subject piano. Afterwards, she continued to study, this time at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, where she took a further study course in piano duet with Prof. Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl. Jenny completed this course in 2008 with the highest possible grade of 1.0.

Jenny also excels as a singer and has won several prizes in solo and chamber music competitions held by the prestigious trust Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. She is currently studying jazz vocals at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.

From her 7th Birthday on Valeria Stab got lessons with well-known pianists e.g. as a junior student at the Hamburg Music Academy with Prof. Koroliov and Prof. Mara Mednikal.

Coming out of school, Valeria studied at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe in the class of Prof. Uhde and Prof. Stange, also she is a student of "applied cutural sciences".

Valeria won several nationwide first prizes at "Jugend musiziert" and at the "Steinway-Competition" and was featured as a soloist with orchestras in Germany and abroad.

On Cello

Anne-Christin Schwarz went to music school “Schloss Belvedere” in Weimar, where she started to play the cello at the age of 6, and then studied music at the Weimar academy for music “Franz Liszt”. She won several awards in solo and chamber music and had lessons with reputated musicians, such as Professor Brainin or Reijseger.

Next to various classical ensembles, Anne-Christin also plays and sings in several jazz combos. She co-founded the band “deep strings” in 2000 and is also part of “Naked Raven” since 2005. At the moment, she lives and works as an artist in Berlin.