Arborea Ensemble

Newly-formed Arborea Ensemble is a period-instrument group based in the which aims to explore the rich and diverse repertoire of the Baroque era and trace the evolution of its stylistic principles into the music of the classical period. With a repertoire ranging from Biber to Beethoven, the ensemble collaborates with other emerging period instrument performers, expanding into the mixed ensemble repertoire of the Baroque, as well as bringing a fresh perspective to the piano chamber music literature. Arborea Ensemble seeks to bring music outside of the traditional concert-hall setting and directly into the lives of people who have had little exposure to either classical music or period instrument performance.

Canadian-American violinist Alison Luthmers received her bachelor of music degree from the Colburn School in Los Angeles, and went on to pursue her long-standing love of Baroque violin. She now performs on both Baroque and modern violin, playing with groups such as Barokksolistene, Ensemble Zimmerman and Arte dei Suonatori. She has participated in festivals such as Urbino Musica Antica and Vancouver Early Music where she studied with Enrico Gatti and Marc Destrube respectively, as well as Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West and the Oregon Bach Festival. She lives in Malmö, Sweden, where she freelances and studies Baroque violin with Peter Spissky and Arek Golinski.

Michaela Kouřilová completed a B.A. in Early Music Performance - Flauto Traverso at the Charles University in Prague, studying with Jana Semerádová and graduated with First-Class Honours. Currently, she studies for her Master degree with Wilbert Hazelzet at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. She also takes lessons with Lisa Beznosiuk at the Royal College of Music in London. Michaela performs as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player both at home and abroad (Irish , Dresden Instrumental- Concert, The Czech Ensemble Baroque). She is a trainee with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London, where she participates in baroque, classical and romantic projects under A. Schiff, M. Alsop and W. Christie, among others. Her studies are supported by the Endowment Fund of Livia and Václav Klaus - president of the Czech Republic, the Czech Music Fund, the Foundation Life as an Artist, and Endowment Fund to Support Classical Music. Michaela is also engaged in an intensive research; in 2011 she completed and created an edition of lost works for the flute by Václav Vodička, a Concert-Meister of the court orchestra in Munich during 1732-1774. Recently she also recorded his works with the cooperation of the Czech Radio.

A native of Interlochen, Michigan, American cellist Eva Lymenstull graduated with highest honors from the University of Michigan, going on to receive a Master of Music from Rice University. She has performed with Mercury Baroque and Ensemble VIII, and has received several prestigious grants to pursue studies in historical performance, including the Lovett, Theodore Presser, and Wagoner Foundation awards. Her participation in the Oberlin, Longy, Vancouver, Valtice, and Manuel de Falla summer early music festivals has led to studies with Jaap ter Linden, Phoebe Carrai, Catharina Meints, and Michael Brussing, and performances in North America and Europe. She is currently a Master’s student at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where she studies baroque with Jaap ter Linden.

Shin Hwang, a prize-winner of the 1st International Westfield Fortepiano Competition, recently completed a dual master's degree in Piano and Fortepiano Performance at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Arthur Greene and Penelope Crawford. As a versatile keyboardist, he has won recognition in both modern and historical performance. In 2010, he won Second Prize in the Ann Arbor Society of Musical Arts, Young Artist Competition and in 2012, he was a finalist of the Jurow International Competition. In 2011, he was invited by Malcolm Bilson to perform at the United States Library of Congress for the American Musicological Society Lecture Series: "What the Autograph Can Tell Us: Beethoven's Sonata in E major, Opus 109". Other significant performance engagements include solo performances in the Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh in Utrecht, and Het Bethanienklooster and the Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis in Amsterdam. As a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, he is currently studying at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Bart van Oort and .