Simon Roturier, Marlene Ito, Naoko Shimizu, Macarena Pesutic y Ludwig Quandt

MARLENE ITO

When her mother asked Marlene Ito whether she would like to learn the violin, the four-year-old had no idea what the instrument was. From her very first lesson, however, she was captivated by it.

After studying with Goetz Richter at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Marlene Ito moved to Germany in 2003, where she continued her training with Nora Chastain at the Lübeck University of Music and the Berlin University of the Arts. While still a student, she joined the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic (2006–2008). She also attended numerous masterclasses with distinguished musicians including Pinchas Zukerman, Zakhar Bron and Walter Levin, as well as the Artemis Quartet.

Ito gained further orchestral experience as a trainee with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, and as a substitute musician with ensembles including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.

Her first permanent appointment came in 2009, when she became principal concertmaster of the Komische Oper Berlin. In September 2011, she joined the Berlin Philharmonic and, since March 2020, has served as first principal violin in her section.

She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Irish National Radio Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker and Kammerakademie Potsdam, under conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Iván Fischer, Michael Sanderling, Georg Fritzsch and Richard Gill.

Marlene Ito also enjoys an active career as a chamber musician, performing with artists including András Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann and Vineta Sareika. She is also a member of the string faculty at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she assists Nora Chastain.

Awards: Winner of the Max Rostal International Competition (2006) and First Prize at the Kendall National Violin Competition.

CHRISTIAN LUDWIG QUANDT

Ludwig Quandt was six years old when he first encountered Schubert’s Trout Quintet and, with it, the double bass. So fascinated was he by the instrument that he began playing the next largest member of the string family, the cello, and has remained devoted to it ever since.

At the Lübeck University of Music, Quandt studied with Arthur Troester, principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1935 to 1945, becoming his final student almost 50 years later. He received his diploma in 1985 and completed his postgraduate examination with distinction in 1987.

During and after his studies, he attended masterclasses with Boris Pergamenschikow, Zara Nelsova, Maurice Gendron, Wolfgang Boettcher and Siegfried Palm. He was twice selected to take part in Germany’s national Young Artists’ Concerts.

A prize-winner at the ARD International Music Competition, Quandt performed with the Berlin Philharmonic for two years before being appointed the orchestra’s principal cellist. He also appears internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and is a member of several Berlin Philharmonic ensembles.

Beyond music, Ludwig Quandt’s interests include astronomy and dragonflies. He enjoys walking in the countryside, cycling and kayaking, although he prefers to spend most of his free time with his children.

He plays a 1675 cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, on loan to him from Deutsche Bank since 1993.

Awards: Prize-winner at the ARD International Music Competition, Munich; the Brahms Competition, Hamburg; and the Stradivari Prize, Cremona.

SIMON ROTURIER

Simon Roturier comes from Concarneau, a small coastal town in Brittany. He began playing the violin at the age of seven and, at 14, decided to pursue a professional career in music, enrolling at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Boris Garlitsky and Itamar Golan.

After graduating, he continued his studies with Vladimir Nemtanu at the Lyon Conservatoire and attended masterclasses with Ulf Hölscher, David Grimal and Ida Haendel. Among his competition successes, he received the Audience Prize at the David Oistrakh Competition in 2004.

In 2006, Roturier was a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado and, from 2007 to 2009, held a scholarship at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. He subsequently studied with Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and with the Artemis Quartet at the Berlin University of the Arts.

Simon Roturier is the leader of the Noga Quartet, founded in 2009.

Awards: Special Prize at the David Oistrakh International Violin Competition (2004) and Third Prize at the Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition (2003).

NAOKO SHIMIZU

Naoko Shimizu initially studied the violin before switching to the viola in 1992 and studying with Nobuo Okada at the Toho Gakuen College of Music. In 1994, she moved to Germany to continue her studies with Nobuko Imai at the Detmold University of Music.

That summer, she was invited to the Tanglewood Music Festival, and from the following summer onwards became a regular guest at the Marlboro Music Festival, also taking part in the Musicians from Marlboro tour.

Alongside her orchestral engagements, Shimizu gives recitals in Italy, Japan and the United States and has appeared as a soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Budapest Strings and other orchestras throughout Europe and Japan.

Awards: Winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, New York (1998); First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition, Munich (1997); and winner of the Geneva International Music Competition (1996).

MACARENA PESUTIC HECKER

Macarena Pesutic has won the RWE Competition in Leipzig, Germany, and twice won the Music Teachers National Association Competition in the United States.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Concepción Symphony Orchestra in Bartók’s Viola Concerto, the Orchestra of the Canary Islands Higher Conservatory of Music and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife.

She has been invited to festivals including the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice in France, the International Musicians Seminar in the United Kingdom, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in the United States, the Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland and the Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark.

She has attended masterclasses with leading musicians including Thomas Riebl, Wolfram Christ, Wladimir Mendelssohn, Hariolf Schlichtig, Aaron Rosand, Tibor Varga, Christophe Poppen, Ferenc Rados and Hans Dittrich Klaus, as well as the Vermeer Quartet and the Juilliard String Quartet. Her work with Eberhard Feltz has had a particularly significant influence on her development as a chamber musician.

Pesutic began her violin studies in Chile with Américo Giusti, Jaime de la Jara and Alberto Dourthé Abbé. She undertook postgraduate studies in violin with Patricio Cobos and in chamber music with Manuel Díaz at Columbus University in the United States.

She graduated with the highest marks in performance, chamber music and pedagogy from the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, where she studied with Nobuko Imai. She completed her instrumental studies with a Konzertexamen at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig under Professor Tatjana Masurenko.

She has taught viola at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias since 2005. Recent engagements include recitals and chamber music programmes organised by the Quantum Ensemble, ATADEM, the Fundación Nino Díaz and the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Tenerife, among others.

She was artist-in-residence at the Ateneo de La Laguna during the 2019/20 season and has served as Artistic Director of the Tenerife Viola Masterclass since 2017.

Macarena Pesutic plays an anonymous German viola dating from 1750.