EUBO cellos and double bass

Gulrim Choi, France

Cello

Born in 1989 in South Korea, Gulrim started to studying music in France at the age of nine. After graduating in modern cello in 2005 she discovered jazz and free improvisation and has worked with numerous artists such as Joëlle Léandre, Peter Brötzmann, George Lewis and Lê Quan Ninh. She rapidly became interested in historical performance and in 2009 she started playing baroque cello with David Simpson at the Conservatoire de Paris. She received musical tuition from Gaetano Nasillo, Jean Tubéry, trio Almaviva, Barthold Kuijken, Eugène Ferré and Amandine Beyer. Gulrim also plays in a string quartet on period instruments. From Autumn 2011 she will study with Christophe Coin for a masters degree at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Particularly interested by Italian music from 17th century, she was invited in 2010 to play in the “young talent” concerts at the early music festival in Lanvellec, and recently performed with the ensemble La Fenice directed by Jean Tubéry.

Federico Toffano, Italy

Cello

Federico Toffano gained a diploma in cello performance in 2009 from the Conservatory of Music of Vicenza (Italy), where he studied with Gianantonio Viero. He then attended further courses and masterclasses with Franco Maggio Ormezowsky, Enrico Dindo, Rocco Filippini, Thomas Demenga, Enrico Bronzi and Laszlo Fenyo. His interest in and love for early music performance also lead him to attend courses of baroque cello with Gaetano Nasillo, Stefano Veggetti and, later, with Marco Frezzato. In 2010 he was selected to play with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Mozart by Claudio Abbado. In 2011 he was selected by audition to work with the Orchestra dell'Arena di Verona. Federico is currently a member of the music academy “Incontri con il Maestro” of Imola (Italy), where he studies with Giovanni Gnocchi, as well as of Mario Brunello’s academy “Antiruggine”.

Magdalena Brostek, Germany

Cello

Magdalena Brostek was born in Tuttlingen, Germany, in 1982 and at the age of seven began to play the cello. She started to take lessons with Martin Ostertag when she was 19 years old and graduated in his class at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe with a Vordiplom. In 2004 Magdalena moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, to study with Morten Zeuthen at Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium, where she graduated with a masters degree. Since 2005 Magdalena has been taking baroque cello lessons with Thomas Pitt at Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium where she is studying for a second masters degree. Magdalena was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and she was an active participant in the Zermattfestival and in the Kronberg Festival, where she took lessons with Anner Bylsma. She has attended masterclasses with Andrew Lawrence King, Jaap ter Linden, Rachel Podger and Alfredo Bernardini. Magdalena has worked with most of the Danish symphony orchestras and will perform with Concerto Copenhagen in August 2011.

Pippa Macmillan, UK

Double Bass

Pippa has just completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she specialised in period performance for her final two years with Chi-chi Nwanoku. At the Academy she worked with musicians including Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Laurence Cummings, Trevor Pinnock and Rachel Podger, and was also the double bass player for the Academy's popular Bach Cantata series. As a modern double bass player she was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the European Union Youth Orchestra, and became principal double bass of both. Pippa has twice been a participant on the London Symphony Orchestra’s Strings Academy, and is now principal double bass with the Orchestra of St Paul’s, based in Covent Garden, London. As a historical player Pippa plays regularly with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, including two seasons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and playing at the BBC Proms under Sir Simon Rattle.