Steenbrink

Judith Steenbrink grew up in a musical family where Renaissance choral music formed the heart of daily life. She studied baroque violin with leading early music specialists Alda Stuurop and Lucy van Dael, after which she toured internationally with ensembles such as the European Union Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, Cantus Cölln, and the Amsterdam Baroque […]
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From 2014 to 2022, she was first violinist with Christina Pluhar’s ensemble L’Arpeggiata, performing on major international stages. As concertmaster, she has appeared with ensembles including Lyra (USA), the Residentie Orkest, and Phion.

In 2006, together with her twin sister Tineke Steenbrink, she founded Holland Baroque, an ensemble known for its innovative programming and artistic collaborations. As co-artistic director and concertmaster, Judith has created groundbreaking projects such as The Birth of Gospel (with the London Community Gospel Choir), Silk Baroque (with Wu Wei), Minne (with the Bastarda Trio), and Carnival Baroque (with Jeanine De Bique).

For Holland Baroque’s projects, Judith composes and arranges music together with her sister Tineke, resulting in tailor-made programs that bring out the unique character of both ensemble and soloist.

In 2023, she composed the film score for Metamorphosis by filmmaker Pim Zwiers, and in 2025, the album Dialogos was released, featuring her own compositions alongside her orchestrations of works by other composers.

In 2022, Judith founded the Batenburg Baroque Festival, an annual summer event where music of all genres and styles comes together in beautiful historical locations.

Judith Steenbrink believes that the power of baroque music lies in its ability to express emotions that are universal. Baroque is now.

She performs on a violin built in 1622 in Cremona by the Amati brothers:

“It’s extraordinary; this instrument knows the path to the repertoire; it was there when this music was first played. I simply follow where it leads me.”

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Rousset

Founder of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and an internationally acclaimed harpsichordist, Christophe Rousset is a musician and conductor driven by his passion for opera and the rediscovery of Europe’s musical heritage. His studies in harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, followed by further training at the Royal Conservatory in The […]
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Founder of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques and an internationally acclaimed harpsichordist, Christophe Rousset is a musician and conductor driven by his passion for opera and the rediscovery of Europe’s musical heritage.

His studies in harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Huguette Dreyfus, followed by further training at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Bob van Asperen (he won the prestigious First Prize at the 7th Bruges Harpsichord Competition at the age of 22), and the founding of his own ensemble Les Talens Lyriques in 1991, gave Christophe Rousset deep insight into the richness and diversity of the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic repertoires.

Christophe Rousset now regularly performs across Europe with Les Talens Lyriques at venues including: the Opéra National de Paris, Opéra-Comique, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Dutch National Opera, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie de Paris, Opéra de Lausanne, Theater an der Wien, Vienna State Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, BOZAR Brussels, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as well as on international tours to Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, and beyond.

Alongside this, he maintains an active career as a harpsichordist and chamber musician, performing and recording on some of the finest historical instruments. His recordings of works for harpsichord by Louis and François Couperin, Rameau, d’Anglebert, Royer, Duphly, Forqueray, Balbastre, Scarlatti, and his complete recording of J. S. Bach’s keyboard works are regarded as benchmark interpretations.

Education is a core component of Christophe Rousset’s work. He leads and teaches masterclasses and academies at institutions such as the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), Ambronay Academy, Fondation Royaumont, Opera Studio Ghent, OFJ Baroque, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Amici della Musica in Florence, Piccola Accademia in Montisi, and the Britten-Pears Orchestra, among others.

Christophe Rousset also maintains a vibrant career as a guest conductor, appearing at venues such as the Liceu in Barcelona, San Carlo in Naples, La Scala in Milan, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Royal Opera House in London, with the Spanish National Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestra of La Monnaie, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra, and more.

He is also devoted to musicological research and writing, including critical editions and the publication of monographs on Rameau (2007, Actes Sud) and François Couperin (2016, Actes Sud). His book of interviews about music with Camille de Rijck (L’impression que l’instrument chante, 2017, La Rue Musicale / Philharmonie de Paris) has received wide acclaim.

One of his recent recordings, The Art of Fugue (Aparté, 2023), was praised by critics:
“Rousset (…) masters this cornerstone of polyphonic art with brilliance.” (Concerti, January 2024).

Noteworthy recent releases include the superb digital reissue of the Complete Harpsichord Works of François Couperin (Harmonia Mundi – August 2024), and the release of Complete Toccatas (Aparté – October 2024), concluding his exploration of J. S. Bach’s keyboard oeuvre.

Recent releases:

Portraits, a live recording devoted to François Couperin (label MarchVivo)
In Nativitatem, centred on Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, with the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra (label Soli Deo Gloria)
Cublai gan Kan de’Tartari by Antonio Salieri with Les Talens Lyriques (Aparté)

Christophe Rousset is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, and Officer of the National Order of Merit.

He was also awarded the prestigious Händel Prize by the Händel-Haus Foundation and the City of Halle in 2024.

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Kuba

Franziska Kuba is one of the most promising choral conductors of her generation and has been a Professor of Choral Conducting at the renowned Hochschule für Musik in Detmold since 2022. Her musical journey began with a diverse education in school music, history, choral conducting, and singing in Leipzig and Weimar. Early on, she demonstrated an exceptional […]
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Before joining the faculty in Detmold, Kuba taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg. Since 2018, she has been the conductor of the chamber choir Vocalconsort Leipzig, with which she develops ambitious programs and performs both nationally and internationally. Her passion for contemporary and early music is also reflected in the founding of the Ensemble Neue Kammer, a group that focuses on innovative, audience-oriented concert formats. This ensemble has made a name for itself, supported by the German Music Council and Podium Gegenwart.

As a sought-after freelance conductor, Franziska Kuba has already worked at prestigious venues, including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Theater Heidelberg, the WDR Radio Choir and Radio Choir Berlin. Her interpretative depth and creativity were recognized in 2021 when she was awarded the Audience Prize at the German Choral Conductors’ Prize with the RIAS Chamber Choir.

In 2025, she took on the artistic direction of the Bavarian Youth Choir. Additionally, she shaped the Thüringen State Youth Choir as its interim artistic director and regularly appears in productions at the Schauspiel Leipzig as a stage musician and choral director.

Franziska Kuba represents a unique blend of tradition and innovation. She creates choral music that transcends boundaries, making it accessible and exciting for a wide audience.

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Oberlinger

Dorothee Oberlinger is a renowned recorder player, ensemble leader, conductor, and professor, considered one of the most influential figures in Early Music today. She has received major awards including the Opus Klassik, Echo Klassik, Diapason d’Or, and the Telemann Prize. As a soloist, she performs with her Ensemble 1700 and leading Baroque orchestras across Europe. Since 2004, she has been professor at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and is artistic director of the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci and the Baroque Festival Bad Arolsen. Her opera conducting debut came in 2017 at the Göttingen Handel Festival with Lucio Cornelio Silla, followed by acclaimed productions of works by Bononcini, Telemann, the Scarlattis, Bernasconi, and Handel. She has conducted the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Philharmonie Duisburg, and made her opera debut at Bonn Opera with Handel’s Alcina. In 2025, she will lead projects with the Dresden Philharmonic and La Scintilla Zurich. In 2021, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class.

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Vermeulen

Belgian conductor Dirk Vermeulen is internationally renowned for his interpretation of classical and early romantic music. He is equally at home in early, baroque, and contemporary music, having commissioned and performed many new works. He studied violin and music theory at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and was […]
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He studied violin and music theory at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and was concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders.

In 1991, he founded Prima La Musica which soon became one of the leading Belgian ensembles. Dirk Vermeulen has been championed by Frans Brüggen, who invited him to conduct several times the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

Besides conducting major Belgian orchestras, he has appeared as a guest conductor with prominent orchestras around the globe. He performed in famous concert halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, and Philharmonie Berlin.

He has collaborated with many leading soloists such as Maria João Pires, Barbara Hannigan, and Jaap van Zweden as well as with jazz legends such as Toots Thielemans and Wayne Shorter, to name just a few.

Dirk Vermeulen is also a greatly appreciated opera conductor with much affinity for Mozart’s works, conductiong productions of Così fan Tutte, the Magic Flute and Zaide with Prima La Musica, Glucks’ Orphée et Eurydice (Opéra de Rennes), and Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera Zuid).

His discography includes over 30 CDs on EMI, Vanguard Classics, Discover, Eufoda, Et’cetera, Brilliant Classics and Tactus. Recent recordings include Polish works Crimmean Sonnets by Stanislaw Moniuszko and Two Symphonies by Karoli Lipinski.

From 2000 to 2017, he was a professor of chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

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Sato

Shunske Sato is a violinist, a conductor, chamber musician, soloist and teacher – the diversity of his activities reflect his versatile and resourceful nature. Historically informed performance practice is central to his identity and allows him to inhabit the music and communicate with audiences in dramatic, revelatory ways. He directs and appears as soloist with period ensembles as well as symphonic orchestras around the world, and has led several staged productions as well. Resident in The Netherlands, Shunske has been a faculty member of the Amsterdam Conservatory since 2013, where he teaches historical violin. He also gives masterclasses and workshops with regularity.

From 2013 to 2023 Shunske was artistic leader and concertmaster of the Netherlands Bach Society. During his tenure he directed numerous works by J.S. Bach, including large- scale works such as St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, as well as Passion music by Graun, Graupner and Keiser. His many recordings of cantatas and instrumental works by Bach can be seen on www.youtube.com/bach. Other notable accomplishments include his own instrumentation of Bach’s Art of Fugue, collaborating with Opera2Day on an opera interweaving contemporary music and compositions by Bach, and video recordings of Bach’s Musical Offering which visually render the compositional structures using special effects.

Since 2011 Shunske has worked closely with Concerto Köln as soloist, conductor and concertmaster. Known for their interpretations of Baroque and Classical works, Concerto Köln has been making noteworthy strides into the realm of the 19th century: their recent undertakings include Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung with Kent Nagano, Bruckner Symphonies, Paganini, Elgar and Tchaikovsky. With his experience in this repertoire and its performance practices, Shunske has been called upon as advisor, collaborator and soloist.

Shunske is regularly invited to guest direct ensembles such as the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest in the Hague, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Philharmonia Baroque (USA) and Orquestra Barocca de Sevilla. Upcoming highlights include performances with the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and a recital tour celebrating the release of Bee1h0ven, Shunske’s recording of Beethovens complete Violin Sonatas with Shuann Chai.

Among the conductors with whom Shunske has collaborated both as soloist and concertmaster are Ivor Bolton, Richard Egarr, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, René Jacobs, Kent Nagano and Hidemi Suzuki. Before historically informed practice became a part of Shunske’s activities, he performed extensively as soloist with renowned symphonic orchestras such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the NHK Philharmonic Orchestra.

Born in Tokyo, Shunske immigrated to the US at the age of four. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, Conservatoire National de Région in Paris and Hochschule für Musik und Theather in Munich. His teachers include Chin Kim, Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, Gérard Poulet, Eiichi Chijiiwa and Mary Utiger. Shunske’s conducting mentors include Jos van Veldhoven, Hernán Schvartzman and René Gulikers.

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Astronio

Claudio Astronio is an eclectic musician and active as a harpsichordist, organist and conductor. Currently, he mainly conducts his early instruments ensemble “Harmonices Mundi”, which performs on a regular basis at the most prestigious festivals in Europe, USA, Japan, Mexico and Canada. He has worked with musicians such as Emma Kirkby, Max Van Egmond, Dan Laurin, Gemma Bertagnolli, Susanne Ryden, Yuri Bashmet and Gustav Leonhardt, and he has participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts all over the world. Several of his harpsichord and organ recordings have received many international awards such as Musica, CD Classica, Amadeus, Musica, Classic Voice, Alte Musik Aktuelle, Diapason (Diapason d’Or 2003), Repertoire, Le monde de la musique (“Choc”, July 2001), El Paìs, Ritmo, Diverdi, Goldberg , Continuo and Fanfare and Gramophone. In 2017 Brilliant Classics published the world premiere recording of the complete keyboard works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, which has been honored with the many awards including CD of the month and CD of the year distinctions in the USA. He has been conductor of Theresia Orchestra, performing classic and pre-romantic symphonic repertoire with period instruments. Among his musical interests are also Jazz and pop music; the crossover CD “Coplas a lo divino”, between early music and improvisation and with Maria Pia de Vito, Michel Godard and Paolo Fresu was released recently.

Claudio Astronio made his cinema debut as the main character of the movie “La Corda spezzata – life and works of Alessandro Stradella” directed by Francesco Leprino, and as a conductor in the movie “Zoroastro: io, Giacomo Casanova” with Galatea Ranzi directed by Gianni di Capua.

He held masterclasses in Tokyo, Oberlin Conservatoire, Mexico City University and other Academies in Europe, USA, Japan and as a guest teacher at the Royal College of Music in London. He is member of the Doctorate Commission Board at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and teaches harpsichord, historical keyboards and chamber music at the Conservatorio “A.Scontrino” in Trapani.

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von der Goltz

Gottfried von der Goltz made a name for himself internationally as a baroque violinist and as artistic director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. As was customary in the 18th century, he leads the FBO from the concertmaster’s desk. His repertoire extends from the early Baroque to the musical present, illustrated by a broad discography that shows him […]
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Gottfried von der Goltz made a name for himself internationally as a baroque violinist and as artistic director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. As was customary in the 18th century, he leads the FBO from the concertmaster’s desk.

His repertoire extends from the early Baroque to the musical present, illustrated by a broad discography that shows him to be an incredibly versatile and flexible musician. Gottfried von der Goltz has earned a reputation as a specialist in specialist circles, especially with CD recordings of the long-unjustly forgotten music of the Dresden Baroque and the four Bach sons.

In addition to his numerous appearances with the FBO, Gottfried von der Goltz regularly works (as a guest conductor and as a soloist) with the Berlin Baroque Soloists, the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and other ensembles. For several years he was closely associated with the Norsk Barokkorkester as artistic director.

Gottfried von der Goltz also has a great passion for chamber music, which he pursues in various formations. As a professor at the Freiburg University of Music, he is a sought-after teacher of baroque and modern violin.

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Bernardini

Italian born Alfredo Bernardini studied early music in the Netherlands, where he graduated in 1987. He has since performed all over the world as a member of ensembles such as Hesperion XX, Le Concert des Nations, La Petite Bande, The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, The English Concert, Bach Collegium Japan and others. He has played in […]
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He has been guest director of baroque orchestras all over Europe, in Canada, Australia, Venezuela, Cuba, Israel, with the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Theresia. He is currently professor at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg.

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Onofri

Violinist and conductor, Enrico Onofri grown up in the antique atelier of his parents in Ravenna, surrounded by the beauty of the past, developing hence a passion for the historical performances since the beginnings. He was so led to explore the repertoire from the 17th to the 20th century creating a personal language through the knowledge of the historical praxes, intended as extraordinary sources of inspiration for new ideas and panoramas in interpretation. Invited by Jordi Savall to be the concertmaster of La Capella Real when he was still a student, very soon he found himself working with groups such as Concentus Musicus Wien and Il Giardino Armonico, the ensemble he led as concertmaster and soloist from 1987 to 2010. In 2002 he entered upon a conductor’s career which has brought him great acclaim and invitations from orchestras, opera houses and festivals all over the world. Enrico is Associate Conductor of the Münchener Kammerorchester, Haydn Philharmonie and of the Orchestre National d’Auvergne, founder of the Imaginarium Ensemble, music director of the Real Câmara Baroque Orchestra. In 2019 Enrico Onofri been awarded the F. Abbiati prize for best soloist of the year.

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