Individual biographies
In autumn 2011, Felix Elias Gutschi was accepted as a junior student in recorder at the Mozarteum University Salzburg’s gifted education program, where he studied with Mag. Andrea Guttmann and Matthijs Lunenburg. He later pursued a Bachelor’s degree in recorder at the Mozarteum under Prof. Dorothee Oberlinger and Prof. Walter van Hauwe, including an Erasmus semester in Lyon with Prof. Pierre Hamon. In 2022, Gutschi studied with Antonio Politano in Brescia, focusing on contemporary music. Since 2019, he has been studying music theory at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Prof. Christian Ofenbauer, and since 2023, recorder with Tiago Simas Freire at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon.
Additional masterclasses with Giovanni Antonini, Kees Boeke, Han Tol, Pedro Memelsdorff, Maurice Steger, and Michael Form have provided him with further artistic inspiration.
Gutschi is a multiple prizewinner of various recorder competitions. He gave his concert debut in 2008 with the Salzburg Bach Society. Since then, he has performed as a soloist at events such as the “Resonanzen” festival at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, the Verbier Festival, and the Tel Aviv Recorder Festival. As an orchestral musician, Gutschi has appeared with ensembles including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra at the Bavarian State Opera, and La Divina Armonia.
He is deeply engaged in contemporary music and improvisation. Gutschi is a member of the ensemble “Chez Fría,” which was awarded the “Hubert von Goisern Culture Prize” in 2020 and has performed at the Potsdam Music Festival, Carinthian Summer Festival, Mittelyoung Festival in Cividale, Take the A-Train Festival, and Porgy & Bess Vienna.
Martin Billé
Lutes, Theorbo and in the past guitar
Martin Billé performs on a variety of Baroque, Renaissance and medieval plucked string instruments. He is active as a soloist and in ensembles including Correspondances, Les Musiciens de Saint Julien, Doulce Mémoire, Capella Sanctae Crucis, Alkymia, Astrum, Il Buranello, Le Concert Idéal, Seconda Pratica, La Capriola, Matica de Flor, L'Orangier, Le Grand Ballet, Ensemble Transatlantique, as well as in cross-disciplinary projects with Harmonia Sacra's Operabus and research projects.
He is currently studying for a master's degree in basso continuo with Rolf Lislevand, after obtaining a master's degree in early plucked strings in his class at the CNSMD in Lyon.
Ena Markert
Viola da Gamba and Violoncello
Understanding music as a language is an essential part of Ena Markerts musical work. The cellist and gambist performs across Europe and has appeared on prestigious stages such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, and the Brucknerhaus Linz. As a freelance musician, she regularly plays in baroque orchestras such as the Bachakademie Stuttgart, Berlin Baroque, Theresia Orchestra, La Stagione Frankfurt, the Neumeyer Consort, and the Kölner Akademie. With the latter two, she has participated in various CD productions.
As a much requested chamber music partner, her primary aim is to interact with fellow musicians and thus create a lively and expressive performance style. The success of her ensembles is reflected in numerous competitions, such as the International Early Music Competition Loire Valley and the Förderpreis Alte Musik Saarbrücken. Further concert engagements regularly take her to international festivals, including the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Höri Musiktage, and the Innsbrucker Festwochen für Alte Musik.
During her bachelor studies in cello with Manuel Fischer-Dieskau at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz, Ena discovered her passion for the baroque cello, leading her to pursue a Master degree in historical performance practice with Kristin von der Goltz in Frankfurt am Main. As a secondary subject, she began studying viola da gamba with Heidi Gröger and violone with Dane Roberts, later completing her studies in viola da gamba as a principal subject with Vittorio Ghielmi at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
In addition to her concert activities, Ena Markert teaches cello and viola da gamba at the Kelsterbach Music School and is working in artistic organization management, including at the Musikfest Eichstätt and the Viola da Gamba Society.