Francesca Venturi Ferriolo - Graun, C. P. E. Bach, Janitsch, Giardini, Flackton: More Than A Dull Ripieno! (Baroque Viola Sonatas) (2020)

Francesca Venturi Ferriolo is an italian violist, performing and researching the viola solo and chamber music repertoire from baroque to romantic. She is PHD student at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt. She is co-founder member of the the early music Ensemble ​Il Quadro Animato​ with which she won the first prize at the ​Selifa International early music competition​ in 2015 and the special prize Kulturfeste im Land Brandenburg at the​ Gebrüder-Graun Competition​ in 2016. In the same year, the ensemble was selected for the ​Eeemerging Program​ for the years 2017 and 2018. She studied viola (Master's program in Historical Interpretation Practice) with Professor Petra Müllejans and Mechthild Karkow at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. She previously studied with Werner Saller, Aroa Sorin, Patrick Jüdt, Giuseppe Miglioli and instructed during masterclasses led by Susanne Scholz, Aida Carmen Soanea, Patrick Jordan, Christian Goosses, Lucy Van Dael, Ton Koopman and Ashley Solomon. In 2016, she won a scholarship for attending the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Canada. In 2015, she won the viola’s selection to take part in the project Génération Baroque in Strasbourg, led by Martin Gester.
She has performed at festivals across Europe, including at the Vielklang Festival- Tübingen, Festival d'Ambronay, Thüringer Bachwochen, Händel- Festspiele, Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival- York, Haller Bach- Tage, Sonntagsmusik (Telemann- Haus Magdeburg), konzertreihe Händel- Haus Halle. She is teaching violin and viola at the “Staatliche Musikschule “in Hofheim am Taunus.

Korean born harpsichordist Hwa-Jeong Lee earned her Bachelor and Master degrees in Harpsichord and Basso-Continuo with Eva Maria Pollerus and Jesper Christensen at Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. She has performed in concert throughout Germany, Switzerland and Italy as a continuo player at the numerous Baroque Festivals including Thüringer Bachwochen, Rheingau Musik Festival, Baroque Nights Festival in Kronberg and in Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main. She has performed with Kai Wessel, Michael Schneider and Andreas Scholl. As an accompanist she attended at projects with Cappella Academica Frankfurt, the Marburg University etc. She took part in master classes with Christine Schornsheim, Christophe Rousset and Florian Birsak. In 2019 she has won the Special-prize for best Generalbass-and Harpsichord Obligato-play at the International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg, Germany.

Johannes Berger is a versatile Cellist who performs regularly on baroque, classical and modern cello. Born in Bremen, he started playing the Cello at the age of 9. After finishing his studies on the modern Cello with Gert von Bülow at Rostock, he decided to follow his passion for the Historical Performance Practice, influenced by the books and recordings of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and inspiring coaching by Anner Bylsma and Pieter Wispelwey. He then studied baroque cello with Kristin von der Goltz at Munich and Frankfurt, finishing both Master and concert exam (postgraduate). Being an experienced baroque/classical cellist and Continuo player, Johannes regularly works with Freiburger Barockorchester, Das Kleine Konzert, L’academia giocosa, Leipziger Concert and many other Ensembles. CD recordings include Beethoven Symphonies with Kammerorchester Basel/Giovanni Antonini and Freiburger Barockorchester/Gottfried von der Goltz, Telemann chamber music with Shunske Sato and others and italian solo cantatas with Sunhae Im.