Alida Schat, violin
Alida Schat debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York at the age of nine. She graduated from the Utrecht Conservatory in 1991 and studied with Viktor Liberman, Keiko Wataya, and Charles-Andre Linale. She also attended master classes with Sandor Vegh, Josef Gingold, and the Melos Quartet.
Alida Schat is currently concertmaster of The Metropole Orchestra and The Mozart Akademie (Jaap ter Linden). From 2003-2006 she was concertmaster of The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman) and she appears as a guest concertmaster of Anima Eterna (Jos van Immerseel) and Holland Symfonia (Roy Goodman). She performs regularly with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, and the English Baroque Soloists.
John Wilson Meyer, violin
John Wilson Meyer studied the violin with Maurice Clare at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and baroque and classical violin with Marie Leonhardt in Amsterdam. He is a founding member of The Locke Consort, an ensemble specialising in 17th century music and recipient of numerous international awards, including first prizes in The Van Wassanear Competition (NL), The Early Music Network Competition (UK) and The Erwin Bodky Competition (US). John is concertmaster of The Academy of the Begijnhof (Richard Egarr) and principal second violin with Anima Eterna (Jos van Immerseel). He also performs regularly with Concerto Vocale (Rene Jacobs) and La Chambre Philharmonique (Emmanuel Krivine).
Jane Rogers, viola
Jane Rogers studied viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London with John White and Stephen Shingles. It was there that she became interested in historical performance practice and commenced studying the baroque viola with Jan Schlaap. This led to her gaining a place in the European Union Baroque Orcherstra under Roy Goodman. Whilst at the Academy, Jane started to work with such groups as Collegium Musicum 90 (Simon Standage), The Parley of Instruments (Peter Holman), The English Concert (Trevor Pinnock) and The Academy of Ancient Music (Christopher Hogwood). On leaving the Academy Jane was appointed co-principal viola with the English Concert and commenced freelancing with such groups as The London Classical Players (Roger Norrington), The Gabrieli Consort (Paul Mc Creesh) and Florilegium. She was a member of the Eroica string quartet for several years and became interested in 19th centuary bowing techniques and early recordings of the string quartet. Jane is currently principal viola with The Dunedin Consort (John Butt), The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ton Koopman), The Kings Consort (Matthew Halls), The English Baroque Soloists (John Eliot Gardiner) and The European Brandenburg Ensemble (Trevor Pinnock). She also plays modern viola with the Southern Sinfonia and English Touring Opera. Jane teaches the Baroque Viola at The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Birmingham Conservatoire. She has appeared on over 200 cd recordings as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Her passions include 20th century English string repertoire, organ music written before 1750 and played on original organs and knitting.
Thomas Pitt, cello
After graduating with honours from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Thomas Pitt came to The Netherlands to study with Wouter Möller at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. He was awarded the soloists diploma in 1998. After graduating Thomas has built up a busy performing and recording career, working as solo-cellist with groups such as Concerto Copenhagen (Lars Ulrik Mortensen), Holland Baroque Society (also member of the artistic committee), The Academy of Ancient Music, the Gabrieli Consort (Paul Mc Creesh) and The English Concert. He has worked as soloist and director with the Polish group Arte dei Suonatori, and is active as a chamber musician on numerous significant international stages with The Amsterdam String Quartet, Baroque Fever, Magnetic North Orchestra and others. Since 2005 he has worked at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory as teacher of baroque cello, chamber music and performance practice and in 2007 he became the head of the Early Music department at this same conservatorium and developmental director of Concerto Copenhagen. Tom also gives summer schools and has been invited as jury memeber for the Chamber Music Prize 2009 with the Danish radio.