During his training on the modern violin with Jean-Jacques Kantorow at the Paris Conservatory, French violinist Baptiste Lopez had the opportunity to work with personalities such as Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kujiken, Robert D. Levin, and Alessandro Moccia. In the process, he delved deeply into the art of playing historical instruments and became enthusiastic about the rich sound of string instruments with gut strings. This preoccupation with early music had a strong influence on his way of playing music and helped him to develop an architectural, harmonic, and contrapuntal way of thinking not only in early music but also in more recent music—an extremely fruitful prerequisite for his career as the leader of various ensembles. Lopez played a lot of chamber music on the modern violin, but also in several symphony orchestras, such as the Paris Opera and, most recently, at the invitation of Philippe Herreweghe, for three years as concertmaster of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. With his background as a performer of Baroque music, he has served as concertmaster of the Collegium Vocale Gent for the past ten years, which still invites him as concertmaster today. He also conducts the ensemble of French countertenor Damien Guillon, Le Banquet Céleste, and the Ensemble Pygmalion, among others. His preferred area is certainly the interpretation of classical and romantic music on original instruments. This is not only in ensembles such as the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Il Convito, and Chambre Philharmonique, but also as a chamber musician, especially with the Edding Quartet, founded in 2008, with which Baptiste Lopez has given numerous concerts and recorded CDs of chamber music by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann on gut strings. After many years of focusing on chamber music, he now wants to place greater emphasis on the orchestral repertoire. In 2016, he founded a chamber orchestra with pianist Maude Gratton, which he leads as concertmaster. He recently began working as concertmaster with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble at the invitation of its conductor Thomas Hengelbrock. Since June 2018, he has been concertmaster of the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
Matthias Müller, born in Winterthur in 1978, initially studied at the Zurich-Winterthur University of Music with Rudolph Koelman, then at the Freiburg University of Music with Nicolas Chumachenco and with Christoph Poppen at the Munich University of Music. He also received important artistic inspiration from the Carmina Quartet's chamber music program. Since 2006, he has been a member and deputy principal of the Basel Chamber Orchestra. In recent years, historical performance practice has become increasingly important to Matthias Müller. He is also principal player of the Cappella Gabetta and plays regularly with the Ensemble Café Zimmermann, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, and the Orchestre de Limoges under the baton of Christophe Coin. As a chamber musician, he performs in various ensembles and, together with Georg Dettweiler, also a member of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, founded the Cerasus Piano Trio, which is dedicated to the classical and romantic genres of this genre. In addition, he has been a member of the Camerata Zurich since 2013 and receives regular invitations as guest concertmaster with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Sinfonietta, and the Geneva Camerata. Matthias Müller has been teaching as assistant to Professor Igor Karsko at the Lucerne School of Music since 2017 and lives with his two daughters in Basel.
Katya Polin was born in Moscow in 1987 and immigrated to Israel in 1991. She began learning the recorder at the age of nine. She has also played the viola since the age of 14. Katya Polin graduated from Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, the Giv'atayim Conservatory, and the Jerusalem Music Center. At the latter, she recorded various chamber orchestra productions for radio. In 1998, the musician received a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation for both viola and recorder. At the age of 13, Katya Polin won first prize at the Maestro Competition. Other competitions she has successfully competed in include the Young Artist Competition, the Paul Ben-Haim Competition, the Jerusalem Music Academy Soloist Competition, the International Recorder Competition in Germany, and the First International Recorder Competition in Montreal. Katya Polin has performed at numerous festivals, including the Abu-Gosh Festival, the Kfar Blum Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Brezice Early Music Festival. As a soloist, she has worked with orchestras such as the Rudolstadt Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre du Conservatoire Paris, the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Katya Polin is a dedicated chamber musician. She is a member of the Ensemble Phoenix, the Israeli Contemporary Music String Quartet, Barrocade, the Israeli Bach Soloists, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
Since completing his studies with Thomas Demenga at the Basel Academy of Music, the Würzburg-born musician has been principal cellist with the Basel Chamber Orchestra. The orchestra's intensive collaboration with Giovanni Antonini in particular has shaped his personal style. His lively and varied concert activities as a chamber musician are reflected in his long-standing commitment to the ensemble camerata variabile basel, which combines commissioned works with older music in its programs. In addition, he has received invitations to international festivals, where he has performed with musicians such as Joshua Bell, Viktoria Mullova, Wolfram Christ, Thomas Demenga, Riccardo Minasi, Bobby McFerrin, and the Salagon Quartet. Christoph Dangel is also principal cellist in the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble under Thomas Hengelbrock and is invited to perform with other ensembles such as Il giardino armonico and the Orchestre Champs-Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe. In 2013, deutsche harmonia mundi released Viaggio italiano, his first solo album featuring cello sonatas from the Wiesentheider Collection. He teaches historical cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Freiburg im Breisgau. He is also involved with the Academy of the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, the Academy of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, and a postgraduate program in Havana.
