Ricardo Lopes has been Principal Oboe of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. He appears regularly as a soloist with many of the leading Portuguese orchestras, performing works of composers such as Mozart, Martinu, Haydn, Donizetti, Jorge Peixinho, Bruno Maderna and others.

Since 1995 he has been teaching at the School of Music and Performing Artes of Porto, developing a teaching project now widely acknowledged.
He is regularly invited to give masterclasses all over the country, as well as in some of the most prestigious oboe classes in Germany.
Ricardo Lopes appears frequently in recital and chamber music repertoire, having performed in Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Macau, and Japan.

Ricardo Lopes holds a master’s degree in music performance and is currently finishing a Ph. D. in musicology in the NOVA University Lisbon.

Ever since winning one of the most renowned international oboe competitions in 2009, Viola Wilmsen has been performing as a soloist and chamber musician all over the world. She has been highly praised for her “extremely modulated, noble tone”, her “intimate and sensitive playing” and her “great expressive power as a soloist”. Since 2012 she has been principal oboist of the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, having previously heldthe same position for three years at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.Viola Wilmsen studied with Diethelm Jonas in Lübeck, Jacques Tys in Paris and Dominik Wollenweber in Berlin. In 2022 she was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin.
In 2009 Viola Wilmsen won the first prize at the International Sony Oboe Competition in Japan. In the 30-year history of the competition, she was the first woman and the first German to win this award.
She won further first prizes at various competitions, for example the International Wind Competition “AudiMozart!” of the Italian Mozart Society and the Mozarteum Salzburg, at the “Michal Spisak Competition” in Poland, at the “Young Musician of the Year” Competition in England as an oboist and pianist, and at the Beethoven Society in Bonn, as well as the audience award of the “Louis Spohr Competition” in Germany. At the German competition “Jugend musiziert”, she received first prizes in the categories oboe, trumpet, piano and chamber music. Together with her ensemble Berlin Counterpoint, she received the 2013 Usedom Music Prize. At the 2011 German Music Competition she won a scholarship and was selected as a featured artist inthe series “Young Artist Concerts”.
As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras such as the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Hamburg Camerata, the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Japan), the Astana Chamber Orchestra (Yokohama, Japan), the Haydn Orchestra (Italy), the Chamber Philharmonic of Grisons (Switzerland), the Euro Chamber Orchestra (Aachen) and the Classical Philharmonic Bonn.
Viola Wilmsen has appeared all over the world as a soloist and chamber musician and performed at international music festivals like The Next Generation II, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, “Sandstein und Musik”, Hitzacker, “Kultursommer Nordhessen” as well as the festivals in Gstaad, Geneva and Flims (Switzerland) and Santa Cristina (Spain).
She has performed as a guest with the State Opera Berlin, the Munich State Opera, the Frankfurt Opera, theBamberg Symphonic Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, Andris Nelsons, Christoph Eschenbach, Alain Altinoglu, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Marcus Bosch and Gianandrea Noseda. She appears regularly with the Camerata Bern under the leadership of Antje Weithaas
Viola Wilmsen has received scholarships from the Ad Infinitum Foundation (Sweden), the Foundation Villa Musica and the Jürgen Ponto Foundation as well as from the German Foundation Musikleben and the German Music Council.
She has been portrayed on television by Deutsche Welle as well as WDR 3, and has been heard on the radio stations WDR, NDR, BR, HR and SWR.

Christian Schmitt studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon  and at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe where he won top prizes. Then he improved his skill with renowned masters such as Thomas Indermühle, Maurice Bourgue, Paul Dombrecht and Heinz Holliger. In 1992 he was awarded first prize in music from the Fördergemeinschaft in Freiburg (European Cultural Foundation). During 20 years he performed as oboe soloist in Sinfonieorchester Basel and left it in 2012 to devote himself to the Stuttgart Musikhochschule’s class where he was appointed Professor in 2008, succeeding Prof. Ingo Goritzki.
He is as the cutting age of contemporary creation for the oboe and several pieces have been written for him by different composers as the French Vincent Paulet and Laurent Riou, the Italians Jacopo Baboni Schilingi and Nicola Sani, the Germans Hans Tutschku and Dirk Michael Kirsch… which were created in recent years at the Maison de Radio-France Paris, Birmingham Concert Hall, Istituzione Universitaria dei concerti di Roma, Academia Chigiana Siena… He has performed as a soloist under the baton of famous conductors such as Nello Santi, Armin Jordan, Marcello Viotti, Heinz Holliger, Walter Weller… 
A collaboration with the pianist Alessandra gentile in 2018 resulted in the production of on CD dedicated to Jewish composers of the 20th century with original pieces for oboe and piano. He recorded also for the Schweitzer Radio DRS, Radio Suisse Romande, Radio-France France Musique the Südwestrundfunk and the Bayrischer Rundfunk…
Christian Schmitt is invited for many recitals and master-classes in Europe (Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Romania, Portugal, Russia, Czech Republic, Swiss….) and also by universities in North America (Columbia-New York, Austin-Texas), South Korea (Seoul), China (Beijing, Shanghaï, Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Argentina (Buenos Aires)… He served as jury for the Muri Competition in Switzerland, and for the prestigious ARD Oboe Competition in Munich.

Henning Wiegräbe is professor of trombone at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart.
Before accepting the call to the HMDK Stuttgart in 2006, he supervised the trombone classes at the conservatories in Saarbrücken and Basel. He gives master classes worldwide, from Paris and Moscow to South Africa and China.
After studying trombone in Hamburg and Karlsruhe, he studied early music in Trossingen and Basel, working with composers, jazz and crossover musicians. Already during his time as solo trombonist of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Henning Wiegräbe devotes himself more and more to early music, chamber music and solo playing. He founded the Capricornus Ensemble Stuttgart in Stuttgart and regularly performs with leading early music ensembles at the most important European music festivals. He performs worldwide with chamber music partners such as Daniel Schnyder, the Mandelring Quartet and the Vogler Quartet. As a soloist, Henning Wiegräbe works with orchestras such as the Bundesjugendorchester, the Dortmund Philharmonic and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn.
When accompanying his students, Henning Wiegräbe's fundamental goal is a well-founded diversity of training. Graduates of his class play with top international orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic or various radio orchestras, lead trombone classes at conservatories from Gothenburg to Leipzig to Beijing, give concerts with renowned original sound ensembles and big bands, teach at music schools and are prize winners at international competitions.

Louise Pollock is Principal trombone with the Gothenburg Opera in Sweden and faculty member at the Gothenburg University Academy of Music and Drama. She has been awarded numerous prizes, such as the 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the International Aeolus Competition for Wind Instruments 2016 or the prestigious ”Stipendium des Deutschen Musikwettbewerbs” at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2014.
She has performed as a soloist throughout Europe with orchestras such as the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Opera Orchestra Gothenburg, Bjergsted Blåsensemble or the Duisburger Philharmoniker. Before her position in Gothenburg she played with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker (Germany) for three years.
She is often invited to judge competitions, for example the ITA competition, and give masterclasses and has been featured as an artist at numerous festivals, for example at the Tourbon Brass Festival in Chile, Bjergsted Brass Festival Stavanger in Norway, Tromboholizm Poland or the International Trombone Festival.
Louise studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg i.Br., Germany, with Professor Branimir Slokar, where she received her Bachelor of Music with distinction. She then went on to study with Prof. Henning Wiegräbe at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart, Germany (Master of Music).

She is honored to be part of the Board of Advisors of the International Trombone Association.
Louise is a Conn Artist and performs exclusively on a Conn 88H that was built in the early 1950s.

Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, one of the foremost Japanese trombonists of his generation, is the principal trombonist of the Seattle Symphony and the newest member of the Center City Brass Quintet. He was formerly a trombonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City for 10 seasons, and also co-principal trombonist of the All-Star Orchestra.

Active as a soloist, recitalist, chamber music performer, and clinician, Yamamoto has performed with a wide variety of ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Chamber Orchestra, and as guest solo principal trombonist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo. Yamamoto has also been guest soloist with orchestras including the Osaka Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic Tokyo, Kosei Wind Orchestra Tokyo, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band (OMSB), U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own), Eastern Music Festival, Taipei Symphonic Band, Symphonic Winds of Singapore, and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.  

Yamamoto is an active recording artist and has performed on numerous TV and movie recordings in New York and Tokyo. He is a frequent invitee to give recitals and master classes throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. In 2019, Yamamoto was a guest artist and faculty member at the Southeast Trombone Symposium and Vancouver Trombone Week. He has also appeared as featured soloist at the American Trombone Workshop in Washington, DC, and the International Trombone Festival; as guest artist and faculty member for the Asian Trombone Seminar in Taiwan, Curuso Internacional Semena Musical de Salseda in Spain, the Eastern Music Festival, and the Hamamatsu Music Academy and Festival in Japan. As a clinician, he has given master classes at numerous colleges both in the United States and Asia, including the Eastman School of Music.

Yamamoto has won numerous awards, prizes, and scholarships in Japan and abroad, including fourth place in the International Trombone Association Competition in Australia, first grand prize of the Japan Wind and Percussion Competition, and the diploma prize at the Prague International Music Competition.

Born in Tokyo, Mr. Yamamoto began studying trombone at age 12 with his father, Tatsuo Yamamoto, and Mr. Yoshiki Hakoyama. After studying at Tokyo College of Music Senior High School, he was accepted at the Franz Liszt Music Academy as a student of Gusztav Hoena and Sztan Tivador. While at the academy, he joined the trombone section of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He subsequently studied at The Juilliard School with Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic.

Yamamoto is a S.E. Shires performing artist and clinician. His discography includes “Proof,” “Family Tree” (Kosei Publishing), “Trombone Concerto,” and “Ballade” (Octavia Recordings). His newly released book “Ko-herent Warmup Drills and Routines for Trombone— The Ko-rrect Way to Start Each Day” is available at Art of Sound Music. In 2022, Mr. Yamamoto will be the soloist to perform Tan Dun Trombone Concerto (US premiere) with the Seattle Symphony. 

After organist degree from Stockholm he studied trombone with Palmer Traulsen in Copenhagen, with Denis Wick at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama an London, and with Jay Friedman in Chicago. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Including studies with Arnold Jacobs.
1971 he became principal trombone at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo. 1978 principal trombone with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, National Orchetra of Sweden.
After 45 years of service in teaching he is Professor Emeritus from the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo and from the Gothenburg University School of Music. He has more than 80 former students in professional jobs after winning auditions.
Ingemar Roos has served on the International Trombone Assiciation (ITA) festivals numeroud times on the faculty as soloist, clinician, lecturer and conductor.
At the year 2000 ITA Festival he received the Neill Humfeld award for “Excellence in trombone teaching”.
In international trombone competitions he has been a member of jury in Grenchen, Porcia 5 times, Toulon and Markneukirchen.
Appart from guest teaching at seminars, courses and giving classes, also coaching youth orchestras as well as professional ensembles and sections in ensmble playing techniques and in concerts.