Dutch clarinetist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (1977) studied at the Juilliard School for Music in New York with clarinetist Charles Neidich on a sponsorship by the Fulbright International Scholarship Program. Lars has won several first prizes at international competitions such as the "International Competition for Youth" (Lisbon 1994) and the “RTBF Jeunes Solistes” (Brussels 1993). In 1999 he made his début in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and performed very successfully as a Rising Star in the so named concert series in 2001-2002. Since then, Lars has played in major venues such as Carnegie Hall New York, Wigmore Hall London, Musik Verein Vienna, Cité de la Musique Paris and Philharmonie Berlin. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands, New Ensemble Amsterdam and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He performed the world premiere of the Clarinet Concerto "Yellow Darkness", written for him by Willem Jeths, in 2005 and the piece "Euro" by Theo Abazis at Carnegie Hall in 2001.
Lars has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin since 2000. He has performed with string quartets and ensembles such as Skampa Quartet, Quatuor Danel, Quatuor Ebène, and Altenberg Trio Wien. Lars performs frequently in the major international festivals with colleagues like Janine Jansen, Inon Barnatan, Amihai Grosz etc. He is also a guest-player with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in the UK. In 2003, Lars was awarded an "Edison" for his début CD. Other CD’s followed, with music by Dohnányi, Harbison and Hindemith. In 2009, Challenge Records released his CD with Reger sonatas, which received outstanding reviews by the international music press. Lars founded and is artistic director of the "Dutch Tone Festival" in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. He teaches at the Fontys Music Academy Tilburg.

Since he won the Echo Klassik Award for his EMI debut album in 2006 Linus Roth has made a name for himself both as one of the most interesting violinists of his generation and as a champion of wrongly forgotten works and composers. His live performances and his recording of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s complete works for Violin and Piano for Challenge Classics have brought him both critical and public acclaim. Roth’s commitment to Weinberg is further documented in his recording of Weinberg’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the recording of Weinberg´s Concertino with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn ( both were named „Editor´s Choice“ by the Gramophone Magazin) and the recording of the 3 Violin Solo Sonatas, making him the first violinist to have recorded Weinberg´s complete Violin repertoire . In 2015 Linus Roth founded the International Weinberg Society, an organisation whose mission is to bring more attention to the Œuvre of the Polish-Jewish composer, to help organise concerts, lectures, exhibitions, as well as support publications about his life and recordings of his compositions.
After joining Prof Nicolas Chumachenco’s pre-college division at the Music Academy Freiburg, Linus Roth continued his studies with Prof. Zakhar Bron in Lübeck and with Prof. Ana Chumachenco at the Academies of Zurich and Munich. Salvatore Accardo, Miriam Fried and Josef Rissin all strongly influenced his development as a player as did Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose Foundation awarded him a scholarship for the duration of his studies. In 2012 he was appointed Professor for Violin at the “Leopold-Mozart-Centre” of the University of Augsburg, Germany.
Linus Roth has performed with the Radio Symphony Orchestras of the SWR and Berlin, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Orquesta de Cordoba, Orquesta de Navarra, Orchestra della Teatro San Carlo Napoli, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Berner Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra of the State Opera Stuttgart, Vienna Chamber Philharmonic, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and the Munich Chamber Orchestra and has shared the stage with the conductors Gerd Albrecht, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Dennis Russell Davies, James Gaffigan, Hartmut Haenchen Manfred Honeck, Mihkel Kütson, Antoni Wit, among others.
A passionate chamber musician, he can be heard with Nicolas Altstaedt, Gautier Capucon, Kim Kashkashian, Albrecht Mayer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Andreas Ottensammerm Itamar Golan and Danjulo Ishizaka and regularly gives recitals with the Argentinian pianist José Gallardo throughout Europe.
Linus Roth plays the A. Stradivari “Dancla” 1703, kindly loaned to him by the “L-Bank, Staatsbank of Baden-Württemberg, Germany”.

Born in Augsburg in 1954, Julius Berger studied at the Musikhochschule of Munich, Germany under Walter Reichardt and Fritz Kiskalt. Later, he studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria under Antonio Janigro (who´s assistant he became from 1979 to 1982) and at the University of Cincinnati, USA under Zara Nelsova and on the occasion of a master-course under Mstislav Rostropovic.
With 28 years Julius Berger was appointed to the Musikhochschule Wuerzburg and was one of the youngest professors in Germany. Starting in Wuerzburg, later in Saarbruecken and Mainz, and since 2000 in Augsburg, he took efforts to promote the top new talents in his subject. Since 1992 he leads a class at the international summer academy at the Mozarteum Salzburg.
Julius Berger devotes a big part of international concert- and recording-works to the rediscovery of Luigi Boccherini´s complete works, the performance and CD-edition of the works für Violoncello and pianoforte by Paul Hindemith, the works of Ernst Bloch, Max Bruch, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann and Edward Elgar.
Julius Berger is known for his big commitment of contemporary compositions. He published remarkable CD´s, that are known all over the world, featuring the works of John Cage, Toshio Hosokawa and Sofia Gubaidulina.

James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
MacMillan first became internationally recognized after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990.
His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich and three symphonies. Recent major works include his St John Passion co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Choir, his Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto, St Luke Passion and, most recently, his Percussion Concerto No.2 for Colin Currie, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.
MacMillan enjoys a flourishing career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, praised for the composer’s insight he brings to each score. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until 2013 and was Composer/ Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 2000-2009; he has conducted orchestras such as the Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. MacMillan was Composer in Residence at the 2012 Grafenegg Festival and a London Symphony Orchestra Portrait Artist in the 2009/10 season.
In spring 2014 MacMillan conducted three projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, culminating in a ground-breaking tour to India with Nicola Benedetti performing in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi including public concerts, schools concerts and outreach work. In the 2014/15 season, MacMillan conducts orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. In January 2015 he conducts a new production of his opera, Inés de Castro, at Scottish Opera and elsewhere this season conducts choral concerts in Sao Paulo and with the BBC Singers. In October 2014 MacMillan founded his music festival, The Cumnock Tryst, which takes place in his native Ayrshire.

The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is a versatile orchestra that covers a broad and varied terrain. The orchestra performs in various formations, from Baroque to contemporary music ensemble. Michael Schønwandt is its chief conductor and artistic director. Its principal guest conductors are Philippe Herreweghe, Frans Brüggen and James MacMillan. Former chief conductor Jaap van Zweden was appointed conductor emeritus in May 2011. Radical cutback in expenditure of the Netherlands public broadcasting results in the dissolution of this orchestra in August 2013. The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic makes an important contribution to the Saturday Matinee, Sunday Morning and Robeco Summer concert series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Utrecht’s Vredenburg Friday series and the NTR concerts in Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. All of these concerts are broadcast via Radio 4 and many are recorded for live Internet streaming and TV broadcasts. The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is a frequent guest in De Magische Muziekfabriek educational series, the International Gaudeamus Music Week and the Holland Festival.
The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is renowned for its impassioned performances of contemporary music. At the internationally respected Donaueschingen Festival for new music, the orchestra performed no less than four world premieres in a single concert conducted by Peter Eötvös in October 2010. One month later its concertante performance of Pascal Dusapin’s Faustus, the last night, the first in the Netherlands, received rave reviews.
The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic is also known for its performances of familiar and lesser known works of the old masters conducted by specialists in historical performance practice. In recent years the Radio Chamber Philharmonic worked with conductors like Harry Christophers, Andrew Manze, Masaaki Suzuki, Kenneth Montgomery and John Nelson and of course principal guest conductors Frans Brüggen and Philippe Herreweghe. The versatility of the orchestra is demonstrated in its wide range of recordings, from Beethoven, Haydn and Stravinsky to Henk Badings, Tristan Keuris, Otto Ketting, Richard Rijnvos and James MacMillan.