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 was born in Durban (South Africa) and had her first piano lesson at six years of age in Germany. 2002-2007 she studied instrumental teaching at the Hochschule für Musik in Lübeck, North Germany, under the instruction of Barbara Martini.

2007-2008 she completed her artistic degree in Lübeck with Prof. Jacob Leuschner, and from 2009 with David Meier. 2005/2006 Anne took a semester abroad as student of the Erasmus Exchange Programme at the Escola Superior de Música Catalunya in Barcelona with Prof. Pierre Reach and Prof. Alan Branch. In April 2011 she started her master studies for "Master of Arts" in Lübeck with David Meier.

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. Moreover, she studied jazz vocals in Stuttgart, Munich and at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Jenny has won several prizes in solo and chamber music competitions and took further study courses under e.g. Prof. Silke-Thora Matthies, Christian Köhn, Dimiter Pavlov and Genova&Dimitrov on a scholarship of the Friedrich-Ebert-Trust. With her piano duet „Die Funtasten“ und the „Rebop“ jazz formation she gives concerts in Germany and abroad. At the moment Jenny lives and works as a freelance piano player in Munich.

On Cello

Frederike Dany started playing the cello when she was seven years old. By the time she was in her teens, she was already a student of the Conservatoire de Luxembourg and had won numerous prizes, including the prestigious German national competition “Jugend Musiziert”.
Frederike went on to study music and education at the Musikhochschule Lübeck under the instruction of Prof. Ulf Tischbirek.  Having won a DAAD scholarship, she then travelled to Barcelona, where she studied under Lluis Claret, and, after that, to Amsterdam, where she studied Baroque cello with Jaap ter Linden.

In 2005 Frederike returned to Germany, and in 2007 she completed her degree in performing arts at the Universität der Künste Berlin under the instruction of Prof. Martin Löhr (solo cellist with the Berlin Philharmonic).
Frederike also participated in several different master classes, including with Prof. Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt and Prof. Jens Peter Maintz. She was a member of the Ensembleakademie des Freiburger Barockorchesters and received a scholarship from Jeunesses Musicales. Her great love has always been chamber music.

She received quartet lessons from Walter Levin and the Artemis Quartet.
With her ensemble Frederike performed at the Rheingau Music Festival and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. After taking her degree, Frederike was a permanent member of the orchestra at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and performed regularly in concerts at the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz. Concert tours have taken her, not only all over Europe, but also to South Africa, South America and Asia. At the moment Frederike lives and works as a freelance cellist in Berlin.