Irvine Arditti, violin

In addition to his phenomenal career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti continues to excel as an extraordinary soloist. Born in London in 1953, Irvine Arditti began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and after two years, at the age of 25, became its Co-Concert Master. He left the orchestra in 1980 in order to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet which he had formed while still a student.

During the past decade Irvine Arditti has given the world premières of a plethora of large scale works especially written for him. These include Xenakis' Dox Orkh and Hosokawa's Landscape III, both for violin and orchestra, as well as Ferneyhough's Terrain, Francesconi's Riti Neurali, Dillon's Vernal Showers and Harvey's Scena, all for violin and ensemble. He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including the Bayerische Rundfunk, BBC Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Paris, Het Residentie den Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Asko Ensemble, Contrechamps, London Sinfonietta, Nieuw Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Schoenberg Ensemble. His performances of many concertos have won acclaim by their composers, in particular Ligeti and Dutilleux.
Performances in the season 2004/2005 included the violin concert by John Adams, Berio's Corale, Francesconi's Riti Neurali and to open the new Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam in June, a performance of Harvey's Scena with the Nieuw Ensemble.

As well as having recorded over 130 CDs with the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has built an impressive catalogue of solo recordings. His CD of solo violin works by composers such as Carter, Estrada, Ferneyhough and Donatoni, as well as his recording of Nono's La Lontananza, both on the label Montaigne Auvidis, have been awarded numerous prizes. His recording of Cage's Freeman Etudes for solo violin, as part of his complete Cage violin music series for American label Mode, has made musical history. The series is now complete. The violin concertos by Berio, Xenakis and Mira, recorded in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, are featured on a disc by Swedish label Bis. Mode has just released Irvine Arditti's arrangement for Quartet of Cage's 44 Harmonies from Apartment House.

Visit their website at www.ardittiquartet.co.uk

Ashot Sarkissjan, violin

Ashot Sarkissjan was born on the 26th of February 1977 in Yerevan, Armenia. He studied with Ara Bogdanian at the Tchaikovsky Music College in his home town, at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, where his principal teachers were Maria Egelhof, violin, and Walter Levin, string quartet, and with Mihaela Martin at the Hochschule für Musik Cologne. He is laureate of the international competitions in Lublin and Mainz. Since his student years, contemporary music has been a domain of major importance for him. As co-founder of the Ensemble Neue Musik Lübeck, he worked regularly with students from the composition classes, premiering new pieces written for violin or string quartet. He participated in the Académie du 20e Siecle, an annual summer course, organized in Paris by Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Since 2002 Ashot Sarkissjan has been a member of Ensemble Intercontemporain (EIC) in Paris, where he worked with many composers including Pierre Boulez, Gyorgy Kurtag and Brian Ferneyhough. He has appeared as soloist with the EIC, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Stavanger Symfoniorkester (Norway) under conductors such as Sakari Oramo and Jonathan Nott, and also worked, on many occasions, with Ensemble Modern Frankfurt.

Ashot has appeared as soloist together with the soprano Laura Aikin in "Le Sacrifice", an oratorio for violin, soprano and ensemble by the Finnish composer Kimmo Hakola. He has performed in many European countries, but also in Russia and the US, and took part in such festivals as Lucerne and Lincoln Center in New York. In his concerts in Armenia, he has introduced many major works of the 20th Century, many never performed there before. He has also given master-classes in Paris and Cologne.

Ashot joined the Arditti Quartet in June 2005. His violin is by Stephan von Baehr, 2002.

Ralf Ehlers, viola

Since settling in the U.K. in 1996, Ralf Ehlers has become one of London¹s most sought after violists. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, he won the 1989 'Concurso Sul America' and went on to give recitals and play concertos with many orchestras throughout South America.

He continued his studies in Europe with Nobuko Imai and later with Thomas Riebl before spending three years as a member of the Pulcinella Quartet with whom he performed extensively throughout France,Germany,Italy,andustria. Chamber music plays the central role in Ralf¹s musical life and he has performed with such artists as Steven Isserlis, Gabor Takacs, the Emperor String Quartet and the New Zealand String Quartet and appeared at many chamber music festivals including the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, the International Musicians¹ Seminar at Prussia Cove and the City of London Festival.

Ralf has cultivated a particular interest in the works of living composers; he gave the European premiere of George Benjamin¹s ³Viola Viola² with Garth Knox, and was invited to perform the piece again at London¹s South Bank with Catherine Manson in a programme chosen by the composer. He has also worked with many contemporary ensembles including Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, The Austrian Ensemble for New Music, and the London Sinfonietta.

As a member of the Raphael Ensemble, Configure8 and the Solomon Ensemble, Ralf has performed at the Wigmore Hall, the South Bank and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Cologne and other major venues throughout the world.

Lucas Fels, cello

Lucas Fels is one of the most distinguished cellists for music of our time. His close collaborations with composers such as Klaus Huber, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino or Beat Furrer led to numerous works dedicated to him. At the Donaueschinger Musiktage, in which Lucas Fels has regularly taken part since 1993, he has premiered the cello concertos by Wolfgang Rihm (Styx und Lethe, 1998) and Walter Zimmermann (Subrisio Saltat, 2003) amongst others. In 2002, he premiered Sebastian Claren's cello concerto After Blinky Palermo at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt.

Born in Lörrach in 1962, Lucas Fels received his first cello lessons from Rolf Looser in Basle and Zurich. He subsequently studied in Freiburg with Christoph Henkel, in Amsterdam with Anner Bijlsma and in Fiesole/Florence with Amadeo Baldovino. He participated in master classes by Antonio Janigro, Siegfried Palm and Bruno Canino amongst others.

As founding member of the highly renowned Ensemble Recherche, which specialises in new Music, Lucas Fels has been actively involved in the development of contemporary chamber and ensemble music. Ensemble Recherche has premiered around four hundred works since its foundation in 1985.

Lucas Fels has taught regularly at different conservatories (Lucerne, Essen, Brno, Lviv) and has lectured at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse since 1998. Together with Ensemble Recherche and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, he founded the Ensemble Academy Freiburg in 2004, which offers courses in the performance of Ancient and New Music to professional musicians and advanced students. In July 2005, he participated in the Centre Acanthes Metz as soloist and teacher.

More than 30 CDs with solo and chamber music works document the wide range of Lucas Fels's repertoire. His recent recordings include Bernd Alois Zimmermann Märchensuite / Canto di speranza / Impromptu / Alagoana. Caprichos Brasileiros were released on Wergo, Beat Furrer Gaspra on Kairos and Sebastian Claren After Blinky Palermo on col legno.

The premiere of a new cello concerto by Mathias Spahlinger is planned for season 2007/08 as part of the Musica Viva series of Bayerischer Rundfunk Munich.