Born in Bath in 1986, Danielle Jałowiecka began studying the recorder at the age of eight.  After winning the Bath Young Musician of the Year competition, Danielle took a place on the Bachelor of Music course at the Royal College of Music under the tutelage of Ashley Solomon and Julien Feltrin.  During her time at the RCM she won a place to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Hans-Dieter Michatz, and also learning with Genevieve Lacey, and on her return to London won the Runner Up prize in the Performing Australian Music competition 2008.  Graduating with a First Class Honours led to Danielle continuing her studies in France, with Michelle Tellier at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne Billancourt and with Julien Feltrin at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental d’Evry, Paris.

As a soloist, Danielle has taken part in masterclasses with such renowned teachers as Walter van Hauwe, Dan Laurin and Paul Leenhouts, opened the Bath International Music Festival as the soloist with the Bath Philharmonia, and recorded Benjamin Thorn’s ‘The Voice of the Crocodile’ for ABC Classic FM in Australia.

Danielle has also discovered a recent interest in arranging and with her recorder quartet i Flautisti has premiered the performance of her work on ‘The Grease Megamix’.

 

Kerstin Kubitschek was born in Schwaz, Tirol, Austria in 1983.

She began her recorder studies with Ernst Kubitschek first at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium in Innsbruck, Austria, then at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, where she completed her BMus with distinction.  In June 2007 she received a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal College of Music in London where she studied recorder and baroque flute with Ashley Solomon and Julien Feltrin.  Her studies were supported by a Kit & John Gander Award and an Arts and Humanities Research Counsel Award.

After completing her studies in London, she returned to the Mozarteum University where she studied recorder with Dorothee Oberlinger and earned a Masters Degree in Music.  She has performed as a soloist and in various chamber music groups.  Currently Kerstin Picker-Kubitschek is teaching recorder in Austria.  She has participated in master classes with Dan Laurin, Matthias Maute, Reine-Marie Verhagen, Marion Verbruggen and others.

 

Jitka Smutná is from Olomouc in the Czech Republic and studied recorder at the Conservatory in Ostrava with Jan Kvapil from 2005 to 2007.

Whilst there Jitka was in charge of the artistic management of the Flauto Nuovo recorder quartet which was founded in 2003 and the group performed at concerts and other social occasions both in their native Czech Republic and abroad.  Jitka regularly takes part in master classes given by Peter Holtslag, Kerstin de Witt, Carin van Herden and others.  Jitka studied the recorder at the Royal College of Music in London with Ashley Solomon and Julien Feltrin, supported by an RCM Foundation Scholarship.

During her studies in London she participated in several chamber and orchestral music projects also performing as a soloist in the London Handel Festival and with the Florilegium Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall.  In 2008 she received her postgraduate diploma with Distinction, and at the same time was awarded the McKenna Prize for Baroque Music.

She is now the main organiser of the Summer School of Early Music in Czech Republic and is teaching recorder at the conservatories in Ostrava, Brno and Olomouc.

 

Ilona Veselovská was born in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Ilona studied flute at the Conservatory in Teplice and after graduating, played flute in the City Theatres of Usti and Labem.  During her studies she became interested in Early Music and attended many masterclasses in Prague and Prachatice.  She then became a member of the early music ensemble, Musica Puella.

Ilona graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, in 2007 where she studied recorder and baroque flute with Ashley Solomon and Julien Feltrin on the Postgraduate Diploma course as the recipient of the Constant & Kit Lambert and Heddy Simpson awards.  In 2009, Ilona studied baroque flute with Wilbert Hazelzet at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague.  She is now teaching recorder at the Conservatory in Teplice, and the Academy of Early Music in Brno, Czech Republic.