Black Pencil - Buffoni (2014)

Marko Kassl (*1976 Klagenfurt / Austria) studied the accordion with Mika Väyrynen, Roman Pechmann and James Crabb, as well as with Mie Miki, first in Dortmund and then in Essen at the Folkwang Hochschule, where he completed his postgraduate studies with distinction. Marko Kassl won the GWK music sponsorship award in Münster/Westphalia, as well as prizes at international competitions such as the JAA Accordion Competition in Tokyo, the Pro Loco Camalò Competition in Italy and the Austrian Accordion Competition. With the duo MARES (Esra Pehlivanli, viola) he won the Jur Naessens Music Award in 2009 with the interdisciplinary project "Volume Nuevo+", in which they combine their music with contemporary dance, theatre, live video and electronics.

Matthijs Koene (*1977 Purmerend / NL), pan flute, completed his studies in 2001 with honors at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. During his studies, he developed advanced playing techniques for playing the pan flute, with which he can do justice to the most diverse forms of articulation and the dynamic requirements of classical and contemporary music.

Esra Pehlivanli (*1977 Ankara / Turkey) studied viola with Mikhail Kugel and completed her master's and postgraduate studies at the Conservatory in Ghent, Belgium, and at the Maastricht Conservatory with distinction. She has received numerous prizes, including prizes from the 5th Krzysztof Penderecki International Contemporary Music Competition, the Torneo Internazionale di Musica in Italy, the Dutch Jur Naessens Music Award and 1st prize in the Premio Valentino Bucchi International Viola Competition in Italy.

Enric Monfort (*1979 Valencia / Spain) is an experienced percussionist in both classical and contemporary music. After training with the Amsterdam Percussion Group and with Emmanuel Séjourné, he has worked with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, the Nederlands Philharmonish Orkest, the Orquesta Del Palau De Les Arts De València, the Ziggurat Ensemble, The Barton Workshop and the percussion group The Hague.