Matthias Trück

has been free-lancing since taking his diploma at the Musikhochschule Aachen, working in the pop and classical arenas for radio and television with a variety of ensembles and bands, among others with André Rieu, Die Fantastischen Vier  and with Orangeblue at The Dome 16.  He is a member of the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and substituted on occasion in the Rheinische Staatsphilharmonie Koblenz. At 13, he was the winner of the first prize in the competition Deutsche Tonkünstler  and became a member of the Baden-Württemberg Youth Orchestra. He also won prizes at the national level in Jugend Musiziert. Numerous concert tours with the Stuttgart Youth Orchestra followed, and in 1994 he began his studies in Mannheim under Professor Michael Flachsmann and continued from 1995 to 2000 under Professor Hans-Christian Schweiker in Aachen. He has arranged several pieces for quattrocelli.

www.ponticellos.de

Hartwig Christ

is a member of the Niedersächsische Staatsoper Hannover. He studied at the Mannheim Academy of Music and at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt under Professor Gerhard Mantel.  He made a further move to the Musikhochschule  Aachen, studying with Professor Schweiker and chamber music under Professor Hubert Buchberger. He is the cellist in the Christ Trio. Hartwig Christ won scholarships from Villa Musica, the Karl Klingler Trust and the Yehudi Menuhin-Live-Music-Now Trust. Repeatedly a prize winner of the Jugend Musiziert,  he also won the Kiwaki competition in Mannheim and received the chamber music prize in Bad Homburg. The experience of substituting in a number of highly regarded orchestras allowed him to expand the radius of his musical activities.  In 1999, he became a member of the Hamburger Symphoniker and played on various occasions with the Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra.

Michael Peternek

began as a student of Anton Niculescu (Uhldingen) and was a junior student of Professor Gerhard Hamann (Trossingen) and Reinhard Latzko (Basel/Freiburg) and studied cello with Professor Brunhard Böhme at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar, Germany.  He won several prizes at the national competition, Jugend Musiziert, and was a member of the Landesjungendorchester Baden-Württemberg and the Bundesjugendorchester, in which he also played as principal cellist.  He appeared as a soloist with the Westböhmisches Sinfonieorchester Marienbad, the Oberschwäbisches Kammerorchester and the collegium musicum Weimar, among others.   In 2004, he was awarded the Friedrichshafen`s Kulturförderpreis. Michael Peternek holds a scholarship with the Academy of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich.

Lukas Dreyer

is prinicipal cellist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Altenburg-Gera. He studied with Professor Daniel Graf in Frankfurt and Professor Hans-Christian Schweiker in Aachen. A scholarship, granted by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Institute), took him to Budapest to study under Professor Sandor Devich. He was also the holder of a Villa Musica Trust scholarship. In the course of his musical career, he has given numerous solo concerts and made solo appearances with the Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg-Gera, Reussisches Chamber Orchestra, Kurpfalz Chamber Orchestra, Marburg Student Orchestra and Hochschulorchester Aachen. He has also performed on radio and television as a member of the quattrocelli and of the duo con pasión. Lukas Dreyer teaches masterclasses and is lecturer at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.   The arranging of music for 4 celli has become a passion; most of the pieces on the program are his arrangements.

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