EUBO violins

Lorea Aranzasti Pardo, Spain

Born in Madrid in 1984, Lorea began violin and piano lessons at the age of 5 and went on to study with Fernando Rius, Polina Kotliarskaya, Ana Comesaña and Laura Diaz-Kayel. She has taken part in many festivals and masterclasses with teachers including Joaquin Torre, Nelli Schkolnikova, Kennedy Moretti, Graham Jackson, Nathan Cole, Brant Taylor, Jose Feghali and Duncan Gifford. Lorea was a member of JONDE (National Youth Orchestra of Spain) working with artists such as Fabio Biondi, Antoni Ros-Marba, Krysztoff Penderecki and George Pelhivanian. In 2005 she was awarded a scholarship to continue her Master studies at Texas Christian University with Prof. Curt Thompson, and returning to Europe in 2008, basing herself in Vienna, she started specialising in baroque violin. During her time in Vienna, Lorea worked with baroque ensembles such as Wiener Akademie, Capella Leopoldina and Barucco, and had masterclasses with Ulli Engel, Thomas Fheodoroff, David Drabek, Ilia Korol and Gottfried von der Goltz, with whom she now studies in Freiburg, Germany.

Federico Brigantino, Italy

Federico Brigantino was born in Palermo in 1981, and studied the violin at the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini in Palermo with Antonio Mameli, graduating with a diploma in September 2003 with full marks. He then studied with Vincenzo Bolognese (concertmaster at Teatro dell’opera di Roma) and Stefano Pagliani. Now he studies baroque violin in Palermo with Enrico Onofri and has also had classes with Riccardo Minasi, Giovanni Antonini and Elena Russo. Federico passed auditions to play tutti violin at both the Teatro Dell’opera di Roma and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. Between 2004 and 2008 he was engaged by Opera di Roma for the opera seasons, performing several operas and ballets (Traviata, Trovatore, Così fan Tutte, Il turco in Italia, Flying Dutchman). With Opera di Roma he played also for the 2007 Ravenna Festival. From 2006 he has played with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, working with various soloists and conductors including Lothar Koenigs, Mischa Maisky, Sergey Krylov, Boris Belkin.

Davina Clarke, UK

Davina is a scholar the Royal Academy of Music, where she is studying for a Masters degree under Rachel Podger and Simon Standage. She was previously a McMynn Scholar at The University of Manchester where she read music and graduated with First Class Honours, the Proctor Gregg Performance Prize and the Hargreaves Academic Award. Davina began her musical studies at the Junior Royal Academy of Music and during this time, was sub-leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and leader of the NYO Sinfonietta. She enjoys a diverse career and regularly performs with the Britten-Pears Orchestras, International Baroque Players and the London Contemporary Orchestra. Davina has played in masterclasses with Rachel Podger, Jed Wentz and Daniel Bruggen, and worked with musicians such as Laurence Cummings, Margaret Faultless and Madeleine Easton. In addition, she teaches the violin and singing at The Godolphin and Latymer School and enjoys giving educational workshops. Davina is generously supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Golden Charitable Trust.

Lucia Giraudo, Italy

Lucia is currently pursuing a postgraduate course in baroque violin performance with Manfredo Kraemer at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. She received her bachelor’s degree in Early Music at Indiana University, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie, Michael McCraw and Nigel North. In the United States she played with numerous baroque ensembles such as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Bach Gamut Ensemble, Baroque Band, and the Bach and Beethoven Ensemble. She has attended masterclasses with David Plantier and Leila Schayegh in Switzerland; Ryo Terakado in the Netherlands; Francois Fernandez and Olivia Centurioni in Spain; and Ingrid Matthews, Phoebe Carrai, and Marc Destrube in the U.S. In addition to her baroque career, Lucia plays modern violin and has been a member of Hector del Curto’s Eternal Tango Orchestra in New York. Lucia is also an avid performer of new music, having premiered compositions in the United States, Norway and Argentina.

Liv Heym, Germany

Liv Heym has a versatile career in chamber music and historically-informed performance, currently living in New York. She holds degrees in music education and performance on modern violin from the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, where she studied with Ulrike-Anima Mathé, as well as a Master in Historical Performance from the Juilliard School as a student of Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts.Chamber music studies and masterclasses with Eberhard Feltz, Hans Klaus, Daniel Phillips and Andràs Schiff were important influences. Liv has played with the European Union Youth Orchestra, Young German Philharmonic, Jeune Orchestre Atlantique and the Bochum Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philippe Herreweghe, Jos van Immerseel, Reinbert de Leeuw and others. Recent activities include a tour to Moscow with the Mark Morris Dance Group and performances and recordings with Trinity Baroque Orchestra under Robert Mealy and Julian Wachner. Liv is a founding member of the baroque ensembles Waits Trio and Uncommon Temperament. The New Yorker described her playing as "elegant and sensual, stylishly wild." (April 2010)

Gemma Longoni, Italy

Born in Milan in 1987, Gemma started learning the violin aged five. She was a student at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan from the age of 11 until she concluded her violin studies there in October 2010. She has taken part in many courses and masterclasses: in Austria, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, where from 2000 to 2004 she was also a member of the Orchestra Giovanile della Svizzera Italiana under the direction of Anna Modesti. In Milan, Gemma played in the Conservatorio’s Orchestra Filarmonica, and took part in various early music courses with Cinzia Barbagelata; under her guidance Gemma achieved the final exams of baroque violin and historical performance practice with maximum marks. Since 2002 Gemma has worked with Orchestra Nuova Cameristica of Milano, performing throughout Italy, and from 2007 has been a member of ARCANTICO, an orchestra using original instruments created at the Milan Conservatory and now a professional ensemble. She has also performed extensively with the ensemble Aglaia. Gemma teaches violin in a music school in Milan, and is now studying violin in Strasbourg, and playing with the Orchestre Filarmonique de Strasbourg.

Klaudia Matlak, Poland

Klaudia Matlak was born in Tychy, Poland in 1988. She started to play the violin at the age of eight. After graduating from the secondary school in Krakow in 2007, she started her baroque violin studies at the Karol Lipinski Academy of Music in Wroclaw with Zbigniew Pilch. In 2010 she graduated with a bachelor degree. In 2009/2010 under the Erasmus scheme she went to Verona, Italy to study with Stefano Montanari and Enrico Parizzi. Now back in Poland, she studies at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and her current teacher is Martyna Pastuszka. Klaudia has taken part in many masterclasses with teachers including Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen, David Plantier, Enrico Gatti, Alberto Rasi and Martin Gester. In 2009 she was a member of Académie Baroque Européene d'Ambronay. Klaudia gained orchestral experience playing with Capella Cracoviensis, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Harmonologia and Concerto Polacco.

Justyna Niznik, Poland

Justyna Niznik was born in Krosno, Poland, in 1981. She attended specialist musical elementary and high schools, where she focused on studying the violin and piano. While still at school, Justyna won several prestigious prizes and was awarded a scholarship from Poland’s prime minister and the Ministry of Culture. In 2000, she enrolled at the Karol Lipinski Academy of Music in Wroclaw to study the modern violin with Bartosz Bryla, moving to Germany in 2003 to continue her studies at Weimar’s Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik. She graduated in 2006 and finished her postgraduate studies in the class of Friedemann Eichhorn a year later. Under the aegis of Ulrich Beetz in Weimar, Justyna became interested in authentic historical performance, so from 2007 she studied baroque violin with Richard Gwilt at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, graduating with a Master’s degree in 2010. Justyna has attended masterclasses taught by Stefan Mai, Midori Seiler and Elizabeth Wallfisch. She plays in baroque orchestras such as the Cölner Barockorchester and co-founded “Frame Out”, a Cologne-based chamber music ensemble.

Eveleen Olsen, UK

Eveleen grew up in Switzerland and started to play music at the age of four. After graduating from the Musikhochschule Luzern, she moved to Wales to study the baroque violin with Rachel Podger at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She was awarded the Board of Directors MMus Prize for her Master of Music. Back in Zurich, she enjoys playing with various early music groups: Zürcher Barockorchester, Collegium Musicum Luzern, Cantus Firmus, La Chapelle Ancienne, Les Musiciens du Roy, Welsh Consort and Baroque Orchestra, J.S. Bach Foundation and Orchester le Phénix which recently performed Purcell’s King Arthur and recorded suites of his theater music. Eveleen has played with La Scinitilla, the baroque band of the opera house Zürich and was leading the Bristol Camerata. She has recently been appointed as concert master of the chamber orchestra St. Gallen. Eveleen played at numerous festivals and was heard alongside Rachel Podger as a soloist in the Brecon Baroque Festival.

Joan Plana Nadal, Spain

Joan Plana divides his career between modern and baroque violin. He is the recipient of several prizes and awards having played concerts around Europe and North America. Founding member of CONCITATO and finalist of the 2009 York International Early Music Competition, he is the leader of the American Baroque Orchestra and L’Academie Baroque Orchestra in Boston, as well as playing with other early music groups such as Baroque Band (Chicago) and Apollo’s Fire (Cleveland). Born in Lleida (Spain), he holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya (Barcelona). His principal teachers include Paul Kantor, Kai Gleusteen and the Ysaye Quartet. Joan lives in New York, where he obtained a Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School's Historical Performance Program, studying with Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts. He is pursuing a Doctorate in baroque violin at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.