Matthew Barley's musical world has no geographical, social or stylistic boundaries. His activities in performance, improvisation, cross-disciplinary projects, composition, and pioneering community programmes have developed to form a uniquely eclectic international career. He has been described as 'the world's most adventurous cellist' and is as comfortable with core-classical repertoire and improvisation as he is in a night-club or the Amazon rainforest.

'Fortunate to be doing what I dreamed of doing as a child; I try to find a way to play whatever music I love - so I collaborate, improvise, juxtapose, arrange and rearrange.' Matthew's studies were at the Guildhall School in London, and the Moscow Conservatoire, and he is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning – constantly seeking to evolve and develop the art of life as a travelling musician living in a vibrant community of family and friends.
He has played in many of the world's great concert halls, given premieres by Pascal Dusapin, James MacMillan, Thomas Larcher, Dai Fujikura, Detlev Glanert and Nitin Sawhney; performed with Amjad Ali Khan, Matthias Goerne, the Labeque Sisters, Dima Slobodeniouk, Marin Alsop, Martin Frøst, Avi Avital, Jon Lord (Deep Purple), and the Nederlands Dans Theatre, records for Signum Classics and has appeared on tv and radio worldwide.
Matthew is married to Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova. He plays a Cesare Gigli cello from Rome, c.1750

Sascha has quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after viola players in London. Since relocating to the UK in 2017 he has been in high demand as soloist, chamber musician and guest principal with symphony and chamber orchestras alike. He joined the Navarra String Quartet in 2018 and Britten Sinfonia in 2021 as associate leader of the viola section. Last season featured Sascha as soloist in the Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Printzregententheater in Munich and Konzerthaus Berlin along with partner Antoine Tamestit and the AKAMUS Berlin. He is a member of the Oculi Sextet and Sakuntala String Trio, both based in London. Sascha appears frequently as guest principal player of Aurora Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Academy of Ancient Music, English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and the Romanian Chamber Orchestra, a newly founded project very close to his heart in Romania. He enjoys both gut stringing his viola at different pitches as well as playing jazz in various ensembles. Newly Sascha has joined the professorial staff at Trinity University in London. Sascha joins the O’Modernt with great joy and commitment in both UK and international concerts.

Double bassist Iurii Gavryliuk began his music studies in Ukraine at the age of 14. In 2011 he received a full scholarship to continue his education at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Rinat Ibragimov. Iurii has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and O/Modernt, among others. In 2016, he participated in the Chamber Music Connects the World festival in Kronberg, Germany.

Mikael Oskarsson studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm (1987–91) with Sven-Erik Eriksson, Jan Andersson and Michael Lind. After graduating, he travelled to Chicago for further studies with Chicago Symphony performers Michael Mulcahy and Charlie Vernon, as well as the legendary Arnold Jacobs. In 1999 Mikael was appointed principal trombonist at the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm, where he has played for nearly twenty years under conductors including Esa Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck and Daniel Harding.

Born in 1994 to the family of professional musicians, Marina Grauman began her violin studies at the age of 5. In 2012 she graduated with honors from the Special Music College of the St.Petersburg Conservatoire (Prof. Shalman) and received her Bachelor, Master and Konzertexamen diploma, all with honors, at Hochschule für Musik Hans Eisler Berlin under Prof. Ulf Wallin.

After being a Karajan-Academy member of the Berliner Philharmoniker 2018/2019 she is now holding the 1. concertmaster position of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin) from 2019 on. Further expiriences as guest concertmaster include many orchestras such as Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden and NDR Hannover or chamber orchestra formations as the Boulez Ensemble. She also led chamber orchestra projects at the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the DSO.
As a member of the Trio Marvin (piano trio) she is a prizewinner of the ARD Competition in Munich (3. Prize) and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition (1. Prize and Grand Prize).
She also holds a DAAD-Prize 2015, which is awarded to international students who have distinguished themselves through outstanding achievements.
She performed all over the world as a soloist with an orchestra (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin DSO, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber orchestra, St.Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Sinfonietta etc.) and as a member of various chamber ensembles.
During her studies Marina Grauman won respectively TONALi 2014, Hans and Stefan Bernbeck Stiftung (Frankfurt) and Lucia Löser Kulturfond (Berlin) scholarships.
The concerts were broadcasted on ARTE, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, BR, ORF, Fine Music Radio Capetown and others.

Björn Olsson fick sin utbildning vid Norges Musikkhøgskole för Professor Frøydis Ree Wekre. Sedan 2006 är han medlem av Kungliga Hovkapellet och har även gästat orkestrar som Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe och Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Björn undervisar hornisterna på Lilla Akademien sedan 2011.

Priya grew up in Oxford and studied with David Takeno in London and Zachar Bron in Germany. She was then chosen as British representative of the European Concert Halls Organisation ‘Rising Stars’ Series. This led to highly acclaimed tours and performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Philharmonia. Priya’s highly acclaimed Oxford Chamber Music Festival inspired The Daily Telegraph to call it ‘a musical miracle’.

Dirk Mommertz was born in Mainz and studied in Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, Paris and Cologne. He is the artistic Director of the ‘Festival Spring Rügen’, and has received many international awards as a pianist. He is a member of the renowned Fauré Quartet, who have performed internationally in some of the world’s most eminent halls. Their prize-winning recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sony Classical have singled the group out as a ground-breaking ensemble equally at home with the classics as well as more experimental contemporary repertoire. Dirk has also appeared as a soloist with several renowned orchestras. From 2000 to 2005, Dirk lectured in piano at the Musik hochschule Karlsruhe. He was then Professor of Chamber Music at the Universities of Essen and Nuremberg before being appointed Head of Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich in 2015, where he became Vice President in 2019. His teaching extends to public master classes all over the world.

Praised as an artist “balancing emotional weight and technical virtuosity [...] conveying the music’s power with a persuasiveness matched by few” (Culture Spot LA), Canadian violinist Eva Aronian is currently Principal 2nd violin of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

A passionate chamber musician, Eva has been featured at festivals and series including the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, Festival of the Sound, Dilijan Chamber Music Series, and Yellow Barn. She has recently performed with the Doric String Quartet and the Navarra Quartet. She has also performed with orchestras and ensembles such as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, 12 Ensemble, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and principal playing with the Hallé and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Eva studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Donald Weilerstein, and received her Artist Diploma with David Takeno from the Guildhall School for Music and Drama.

She is very grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for the generous loan of a 1715 Domenico
Montagnana violin.

Stefan Harg clarinet is internationally recognised as a multifaceted and renowned musician and educator. Stefan is invited regularly as a soloist in Swedish and foreign orchestras. He gives concerts as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestra musician and cooperates with leading musicians and conductors. This has led to new and future collaborations with many world leading interpreter. He collaborates with today’s composers in various exciting projects and a largenumber of composers have written music for Stefan. He has collaborated with, among others, Luciano Berio, György Ligetiand Libby Larsen. In 2018 Stefan made a highly acclaimed solo tour in the United States with concerts in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis. In 2022 he gave masterclasses and concert in Murcia, Spain In 2023 he performed a successful concert at Salle Richelieu, Sorbonne in Paris featuring Swedish solo clarinet music. Katarina Leyman wrote the Clarinet Concerto Verdure for Stefan, who attracted a large public and critic response. He also gave the world premier of Niklas Bremans concerto Dancing Goats in Chicago (2018). Stefan regularly performs the music by Pierre Boulez Dialogue de l’ombre double forClarinet and Electronics (1985), which received its Nordic premiere 2015 and recorded on fpmusic 009 Stefan also has performed the Carl Nielsen Concerto on many spectacular appearances during the years. In October 2012 his interpretation of Jean Francaix concerto and Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie at an anniversary concerts inFrance was hailed by critics and public. Stefan has formed since 1990 a successful duo with the concert pianist Katarina Ström-Harg. Together, they have made many concerts in Sweden and abroad. They have commissioned music by many Swedish composers. Their repertoire is from 1700-present day. They research and perform music from 1800 and 1900. He is a member of the Drottningholm Barockensemble and trio A =430 performing on period instruments. He was featured on the film ’’ Mozart’sLost clarinet (2014)’’ which told the story on Anton Stadler and his clarinets. Stefan is a diligent writer and is published in various international magazines and is giving lectures in different contexts. He 2021 held a lecture of Crusell at the Leipzig University.

In 2023 he gave a lecture speech on Swedish composers at the Sorbonne, Paris. Stefan is since 2015 Adjunct Professor of clarinet at Örebro Music University and gives master classes throughout Europe. He also teaches a private studio and at Lilla Akademien, Stockholm. He teaches early music interpretation and playing on period instruments at the Royal College of Music , Stockholm. Stefan is actively involved in the development of music education in Swedish cultural schools. Stefan was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Soloist Diploma (1990) and Kammarmusik Diploma (1988) Further studies with Guy Deplus, Paris and Walter Boeykens. He is artistic director of Classical Chamber Music Festival, Stockholm He is National Chairman for ICA-International Clarinet Association in Sweden. Stefan is represented on several CDs. As artistic director, he organised the 2002 ClarinetFest in Stockholm. The latest is fp music 009 with music by Anders Eliasson, Arne Mellnäs and Pierre Boulez Stefan plays exclusively on Buffet Crampon ,Paris clarinets Stefan is a performing artist of Vandoren, Paris Official Artist Buffet Crampon Paris

Cecilie Løken Hesselberg studied at Norges Musikkhøgskole and The Royal Academy of Music in London.Her soloist debut was in Zurich in 1994 with Mariss Jansons, and the year before shew on the Princess Astrid Music Competition.Cecilie has played as a principal flutist with many top orchestras in the world, for instance the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Theatre de la Monnaie and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Several big newspapers has given her great reviews, for instance The Times, Die Zeit, Zurcher Neue Zeitung and Svenska Dagbladet. The composer John Adams once said about Cecilie: “There is hope for classical music” after the concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She has played at the world’s most prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall, Musikverein in Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie and Royal Albert Hall. In 2009 she was chosen by maestro Valery Gergiev to be a member of the World Orchestra for Peace, and therefore an UNESCO artist. She was nominated a Norwegian Grammy for Classical Album of the Year in 2016 with chamber music by David Monrad Johansen. Cecilie has been a flute professor at several music colleges since 2002 and she has given masterclasses in Europe and Asia. In 2016 Cecilie received the Aurora Music Award for her tireless volunteer work for refugees in Greece. In her spare time, Cecilie loves to play tennis with her son, barbecuing freshly caught fish at the beach and playing tunes on the piano on late nights.

At the early age of 16 German percussionist Magdalena Meitzner made her recording debut playing chamber music at the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Radio). Since then she has toured both as a soloist and with ensembles such as Kroumata, Norrbotten NEO–now ensemble neo-and Curious Chamber Players to events in China, Peru, Russia, Finland and within Europe, and has performed at festivals such as the Ruhrtriennale or Ultraschall in Germany, Huddersfield in Great Britain, aterteater and transart in Italy, and Båstad Kammarmusik Festival, Sound of Stockholm, Kalvfestivalen, Malmö Live and Vinterfest in her chosen country of Sweden.Magdalenas solo repertoire includes pieces written to her by composers like Christofer Elgh, Alexandra Nilsson and Mathew Petersson. Magdalena frequently works with various crossover-projects involving dance, speech, Musik Theater and performance, for example with Fedra/Hippolytosin in 2019 at The Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm.Magdalena’s duo Hidden Mother–with Ulrik NilIsson-experiments with scenic music and is well known at European avantgarde festivals. In 2018/19 Hidden Mother was ensemble-in-residence for the Contemporary Music concert series "Min Granne Tonsättaren” and 2021 at Kalvfestivalen in Sweden. They received the award for Interpretation of the Swedish Composers Association 2022 (Interpretpriset 2022). Together with theflutist Camilla Hoitenga she forms the duo Wave Dash~. They debuted in 2019 with pieces written for the duo by Anne LeBaron, Christofer Elgh and Lisa Streich. In 2020 the duo was invited to be ensemble-in-residence at the Robb Composers Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they premiered eight more pieces written for them, including works by Lei Liang, Amy Williams, Peter Gilbert and José Luis Hurtado. DasDuo with Mårten Landström, piano, was founded 2024. The duo is currently playing concerts in Sweden, but is already planning to go on tour in USA 2026. Magdalenas latest work as composer includes chamber music for piano and percussion as well as for flute and piano, premiered 2024 of ensemble neo and DasDuo. Here chamber opera Mimì–commissioned by KammarOpera-Kompaniet -was premieres 2021. Magdalena was featured on Swedish radio, P2 in a portrait entitled: “Magdalena Meitzner och Symbolernas Musik" (Magdalena and the Music of Symbols) and received 2021/2022 a working grant by The Swedish Arts Grants Council.

Based in Stockholm, Manou is a sought after oboist across Scandinavia as well as further afield. Recent diary highlights have included extensive collaboration and recordings as guest principal oboe of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has previously worked with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous further orchestras and ensembles throughout Europe. Having studied at Chetham’s School of Music and the Buchmann Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, Manou went on to complete five years in the class of Alexei Ogrintchouk at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève in Switzerland and studied chamber music with, among others, Gábor Takács-Nagy. This was alongside ongoing mentorship and study with David Walter in Paris as well as being a stagiaire at the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra

Jennifer Downing Olsson has been a member of Sveriges Radio Symfoniorkester since 2018. She is also the instructor of classical double bass at Lilla Akademien in Stockholm where she teaches bass students from age 9-20.
Jennifer was born in the USA and studied at Indiana University with Lawrence Hurst where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance in Double Bass. She continued her studies as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago with Daniel Barenboim and
in the New World Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas. Her participation in various summer festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Spoleto Festival and Music Acacemy of the West helped to strengthen her experience in orchestral playing and her passion for role
the double bass plays in the symphony orchestra.

Jennifer spent many years with one foot on each continent while playing in the Gothenburg Symphony between 2005-2018 and summers in the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago between 2005-2020 before finally settling in Stockholm with her husband and two children.

Johan teaches percussion at all stages and leads several of Lilla Akademien's ensemble projects for the percussion students. He has a teaching degree from Örebro Universitet, where he also developed his marimba playing and craft of orchestral percussion. After graduating, he was accepted to the master's program at Högskolan för scen och musik in Gothenburg. There, the focus was on a two-year project that included solo percussion and dance. After his studies, Johan has worked as a composer for the theater Martin Mutter in Örebro and as a freelance percussionist in several of the country's symphony orchestras and smaller chamber ensembles. Beside from teaching at Lilla akademien he mentor and coach the percussion students at Örebro Universitet.

Pascal Siffert kommer från Fribourg, Schweiz, men är bosatt i Sverige sedan 1996. Han är stämledare i Kungliga Filharmonikernas violastämma och medlem i orkestern sedan 1998. Han är även stämledare i Chamber Orchestra of Europe, där han varit medlem sedan 1990. Han har också regelbundet spelat med ensembler som Ensemble Modern i Frankfurt och Camerata Accademica, Salzburg.

Pascal Siffert studerade för Marianne Baumann vid konservatoriet i Fribourg, och därefter för Sándor Végh vid Mozarteum i Salzburg samt Keiko Wataya och Charles-André Linale på konservatoriet i Utrecht. Han har också deltagit i mästarklasser med Thomas Riebl vid Prussia Cove i England.
Pascal älskar att spela kammarmusik i olika konstellationer, men hjärtat slår allramest för att spela med Zetakvartetten.
En ny upptäckt passion är att arbeta och spela med unga musiker. Sen fyra år tillbaka coachar han varje sommar EUYO’s altfiolstämma.

"Mats Lidström is not just a wonderful cellist, he has a searching and curious mind that informs his music-making. The care and generosity of his personality come through clearly to the listener." - Yo-Yo Ma

As an international soloist and chamber musician Mats Lidström has gained a reputation for performances of great insight and virtuosity. He displays a musicianship of unique versatility and productivity, illustrated by his highly imaginative concert programs and recordings.

As soloist he has appeared with some of the leading orchestras and as recitalist and chamber musician in many major halls and festivals. He appears on award-winning CD's for EMI, BIS, DECCA, Deutsche Grammophon as well as on his own label CelloLid.com.