Biographies

Rachel Heymans, born in 1988, first came in contact with the recorder thanks to her music school teachers Jean-Pascal Hinnekens, Michel Keustermans and Catherine Verkindere. She then studied under Frédéric de Roos, Laura Pok and Tomma Wessel at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels receiving her Masters Degree with Magna cum Laude in 2011.

Eager for new experiences, she took advantage of an Erasmus exchange and focused on contemporary music under Gerd Lünenbürger at the Universität der Künste Berlin. She had a prominent role in concerts for the PRIME 2010 and 2011 project, conducted by Antonio Politano, in which works for Paetzold flutes and live electronics had their première. After recieving the Special Heritage Award from the Conservatory of Brussels in 2011, she entered the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis botanizing in Medieval and Renaissance recorder music under Corina Marti. At this time she began expanding her skill set and enrolled for the baroque oboe class taught by Katharina Arfken. Since 2016 she has also a Masters Degree in baroque oboe and has taken part in many masterclasses with renowned ensembles such as L’Orchestre Français des Jeunes baroque, conducted by L.G. Alarcon, orchestra classes with Vaclav Luks, Concerto Köln and the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra.

Besides her interest as an interpreter of music, she is an active promoter of music for well-being in hospitals and works as a teacher of the recorder. As founder member of Ensemble Bradamante and the Hamelin Consort, which was awarded second prize at the « Förderpreis für Alte Musik Saarland 2012 », Rachel Heymans searches for different ways of mixing timbres, adaptating and transcripting works from all horizons. With solo or chamber music projects such as Cetra d'Orfeo or Ensemble ad Mosam, she has performed in Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Israël, Sweden, Czech Republic and Poland.

Since a very young age Anne-Catherine Gosselé has had an unrelenting interest in the music of the recorder being tutored, among others, by Catherine Verkindere. She furthered her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under Frederik de Roos, Laura Pok and Tomma Wessel. She completed her training with an Erasmus exchange, studying under Agostino Cirillo, at the Conservatory of Murcia, Spain. In 2011 she completed her Masters Degree with Magna cum Laude in Brussels.

She has been awarded many prizes at various major competitions including the “SONBU” International Recorder Competition in Utrecht and at the Axions Classics competition, both as soloist and together with Ensemble Bradamante.

Anne-Catherine has recorded two CDs with the orchestra Divertimento and as a laureate of the Jeunes Musiciens competition. She has performed at the Nuit musicale de Seneffe with Cetra d'Orfeo and Ensemble ad Mosam. She recently joined the recorder quartet Alba Novella. As an active member of the Cerf Volant association she brings music to cancer patients. She currently teaches recorder in several music schools in Belgium.

The Belgo-Argentinian cellist Leonor Palazzo was awarded a Masters Degree at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in 2009. She was a pupil of Marie Hallynck and Didier Poskin and completed her training under, among others, Hervé Douchy, Bernard Woltèche, Jean Tubéry, Edmond Baert, Lluís Claret, Daniel Rubinstein and Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiriz. To broaden her musical horizons she studied in the Department of World Music at the Academy of Music and Drama of Gothenburg under Hans Kennemark. Now living in Sweden, she is a competent player of traditional Swedish music playing together with major musicians in several different groups. These include a duo with a Swedish National Fiddler Ellinor Fritz, « Ellinor & Leonor » and a Nordic folk music band Septentrio uniting Hans Kennemark on the fiddle and Hannu Kella (from Finland) on the accordion.

With an interest in both Nordic traditional and baroque music, Leonor has spent the last five years refining her skills on the 5-string cello, an uncommon instrument that has given rise to a unique playing style. As one of its few proponents, Leonor has been able to unveil a treasure of baroque music originally written for this instrument, making its depth and beauty available to the public.

She has been awarded several prizes in some major competitions, winning First Prize in the Chamber Music Ensemble category at the “SONBU” International Recorder Competition 1998 in Utrecht.

Working as a freelance musician since 2010, she regularly takes part in a wide variety of musical projects including Convivium Musicum Gothenburgense directed by Sven Berger (early music), Göteborgs Alternativa Orkester (World music), TOKSO Folk String Quartet (Folk), New Tide Orquesta (Minimalism/Tango nuevo), Merje Kägu Septet (Classical/Jazz), WoodsFolk (Folk rock) and singer-songwriters Maria Pihl, KG Malm, Christoffer Svärd and Jonathan Hilli. Leonor has toured in many European countries, USA and Korea and promotes cello through workshops. She has released two CDs: "Nordic Folk Music" with Septentrio for ARC Music, London and "Mormors trädgård" with Ellinor & Leonor.

Paule Van den Driessche studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Brussels studying piano and harpsichord where she obtained a First Prize (graduate degree) for piano, chamber music, written and practical harmony, counterpoint, fugue and harpsichord as well as a Diplôme Supérieur for chamber music and harpsichord. Her interest for both classical piano and harpsichord has resulted in a very broad repertoire.

In 1988, Paule was accompanist at the first Queen Elisabeth International Singing Competition and in 2004 she accompanied Shadi Torbey in the same competition. She has been involved as a performer in several musical broadcasts for Radio Télévision Belge. Her interest in musical pedogogy and nurturing musical talent has resulted in a recorder teaching method for children, created together with Catherine Verkindere, where she has created the arrangements and accompaniments. Over the years, she has given many recitals and concerts with music ensembles throughout the world.

Since 2000 she has been a member of “Grupo 46” promoting the music of Latin America together with Carlos Palazzo (song), Alejandro Beresi (flute) and Guillermo Cerviño Wood (cello). She retired in 2012 from teaching harpsichord at the Waterloo Music Academy and accompanying classes for Song and for Early Music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, working together with, among others, Marcel Vanaud, Frédéric de Roos, Mira Glodeanu and Philippe Pierlot. She has had a long-standing collaboration with soloist Jules Bastin for many years. Her discography contains works for song and piano, violin and piano, and solo harpsichord.