SASCHKO GAWRILOFF violin Received his first violin lessons from his father, and further studied with W. Davisson and M. Kovacz. He was awarded several prizes at international competitions, among which are the Paganini prize, the 'Kulturforderpreis' by city of Nurnberg. He succeeded to Max Rostal as professor at the Musikhochschule in Cologne until 1996. As soloist he plays worldwide with renowned orchestras and with conductors such as Solti, Boulez, Dohnanyi, Inbal, Gielen, Salonen, Stenz, Eotvos, Bertini. Besides his classical programs his main concern is contemporary music and chamber music. He has played a lot of works by composers like Ligeti, Bose, Kagel, Maderna, Rihm, Yun and Schnitke. His most frequent partners are Canino, Neunecker, Aimard, etc. In 1992 he played In Cologne, with great success, the world premiere of Llgeti's completed Violin Concerto dedicated to himself with the Ensemble Modern, and in 1993 the American premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Salonen. Since then he has performed this concerto approximately 70 times. Records are on DGG, Wergo and Tudor. He plays a violin Stradivari of 1683. WERNER HINK violin was born in Vienna in 1943. Studied the Violin at the Vienna Academy of Music under Prof. Franz Samohyl where he graduated from at the first on the list. Engaged with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as a 1st violinist in 1964, when he formed the Vienna String Quartet together with the members of the orchestra and appeared at concerts of the Musikverein in Vienna, etc. The Vienna String Quartet began recording for RCA and Camerata in 1973, and since then left almost 50 recordings including Schubert's "The Death and Maiden" which won the Record Academy Award. The great success of their performance owes much to Hink's solo violin. At present he is the first concert master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the leader of the Vienna String Quartet and the Vienna Octet. In 1982, was installed as a professor at the Vienna Conservatory succeeding Prof. Samohyl. PAOLO FRANCESCHINI violin Studied violin under Arnaldo Apostoll at the F. Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia and graduated there with the maximum number of votes and rave reviews. He went on to the Academy of St. Cecillia in Rome, where he studied with the prestigious teacher Piana Carmirelli. Dedicating himself largely to chamber music, he studied with Riccardo Brengola and Franco Rossi. At the same time, he began playing chamber music in concert with the piano or other instruments. In Italy he has played for prestigious concert societies and recorded extensively with RAI. Outside Italy he has played many concerts in Germany, Austria, Romania, Spain, Mexico, Egypt and Greece, winning high praise from both critics and audiences. He was concert master and producer of a string orchestra, "Sinfonia Perusina", and the Symphony Orchestra of Umbria. He is now a professor in the violin department of the F. Moriacchi Conservatory. He plays a precious Marino Capicchioni, generously donated by Pina Carmirelli. SERGE COLLOT viola studied in Paris with Maurice Vieux, Joseph Calvet and Arthur Honegger. After obtaining premiere prix at the Paris Conservatoire he was a member of the Parrenin Quartet for 14 years. Later he entered the French Broadcasting String Quartet as successor of Leon Pascal. In 1960 with Gerard Jarry and Michael Tournus, he established the French String Trio, and made international career. He started concert series of "Domaine Musical" with Pierre Boulez. As musician of chamber and as soloist, he contributed to the renovation of the contemporary music world of after 1950 giving lots of premiere performances. Some of the very important works for viola were dedicated to him. 1969 - 1989 ; professor at Paris Conservatoire. WOLFGANG BOETTCHER violoncello Started his career as a prize-winner of the International Music Competition Munich. He played as a soloist with many important orchestras of the world. Among the conductors with whom he made music,there were especially Sergiu Celibidach, Yehudi Menuhin and the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski to have deep influence on him as an artistic personality. Wolfgang Boettcher was invited by many festivals; the Wiener and Berliner Festwochen, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Festival de Marais Paris, the English Bach-Festival and others. Up to summer 1976 he was solo cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He left this position to devote exclusively to his solistic career and overtook at the same time a professorship at the Berlin Hochschule der Kunste. Wolfgang Boettcher's repertoire includes nearly all concertos and sonatas. Famous composers, for example Gyorgy Liegeti and Witold Lutoslawski, have written chamber music works and concertos for him.