Sibylle Mahni studied at the Frankfurt State Academy of Music and the Performing Arts under Professor Marie-Luise Neunecker. She achieved outstanding success in several renowned international competitions, including the ARD Music Competition.
From 1997 to 2016, she was solo hornist in the opera orchestra in Frankfurt. Alongside her orchestral career, she began teaching at several prestigious institutions, including the Frankfurt State Academy of Music and the Performing Arts, the Mainz School of Music, the University of Music Saarbrücken and the University of Music Würzburg. In 2020, she became Professor of Horn at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin.
As a highly regarded soloist, Mahni has performed with leading orchestras such as the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the International Bach Academy Stuttgart, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and the Britten Sinfonia. She has also performed internationally in Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Croatia, China and the USA.
Chamber music is another important part of her career. She has appeared at major festivals including Spannungen, the Moritzburg Festival and the Hitzacker Summer Music Festival. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Ma’alot-Quintett, one of the world’s leading wind ensembles.
Eric Reed is the horn player of the American Brass Quintet and co-principal horn of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He is also a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a regular guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is a former member of the Canadian Brass, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and several American symphony orchestras.
He teaches at The Juilliard School, New York University and The Mannes School of Music at The New School. Throughout his career, Reed has performed with leading ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble. He has also appeared as Guest Principal Horn with several major orchestras and ballet companies.
Reed is a member of Brassology, a brass octet formed in 2023, and Ensemble Échappé, a sinfonietta dedicated to 21st-century music. He has participated in numerous world premieres by composers such as Jennifer Higdon, John Zorn, Nina C. Young, Anthony Barfield and William Bolcom.
His festival appearances include Aspen, Bridgehampton, Bard, Rockaway and Mostly Mozart. He holds degrees from Rice University and The Juilliard School and lives in The Bronx with his family.
First Prize winner at the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 2018, – along with the prize for best interpretation of the contemporary piece, the International Horn Society Prize, the Radio Free Europe Prize and a further nine awards, Second Prize winner at the Città di Porcia International Competition in 2013 and laureate of the Autumn Music Festival Competition (FMAJI) in 2011, Alexandre Collard is among the elite musicians of his generation since his studies, first with Guy Mouy in Douai and then with André Cazalet at the Paris Conservatory.
A lover of the great symphonic repertory, Alexandre is appointed solo horn of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France after he played eleven years with the Lille National Orchestra and often performs solo concertos. He is regularly invited to prestigious international chamber music festivals and creates the Ensemble Polygones. The group has a particularly close collaboration with the composer Camille Pépin, and recently recorded a CD of her chamber music. He also plays sonata with the pianist Nicolas Royez, and they recorded together their first disc Aquarelles (2021).
A renowned pedagogue, he teaches in Douai, his hometown’s conservatory. Alexandre plays Paxman’s 20M Centenary double horn.
She began her horn studies at the Sociedad Musical de Alboraya with Gabriel Diago, continuing her training at the Conservatorio Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo” in Valencia with D. José Rosell, at the Staatliche Musikhochschule Freiburg with Bruno Schneider and with Javier Bonet in modern and natural horn.
Her numerous awards and scholarships include the prize at the Città di Porcia International Competition and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation scholarship.
She is frequently invited to perform as a soloist at national and international festivals such as the British Horn Society, as well as to collaborate with various European orchestras, including her continuous collaboration as horn soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a teacher she has been invited by young orchestras such as the JONDE, OJA, JOGV, and conservatories such as the Guildhall School of Music and Drama or Berklee College of Music.
She has been a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid (Teatro Real) and since 2002 she has been principal horn of the Orquesta de Valencia. He is also a member of the Quintet Cuesta, Dreisam ensemble and Metal.lògic Ensemble. Currently she has released her first solo CD “Se hace saber”, some of the pieces included are written for Maria.
At an early age the source that feeds this musician is his family. At the age of 8 he began the official musical studies in his hometown, Guadassuar (Valencia, Spain). Then he gets the End of Studies Prize at Conservatory of Music in Valencia and later moves to the National Conservatory of Versailles Region (France) getting the Gold Medal at the Graduate Perfection. After being a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain has worked in various formations of national and international level. He has taught in various conservatories of Spanish geography and currently teaches at the Horn Classroom (www.auladetrompa.com). In 1989, together with his colleagues, he formed the Spanish Brass (www.spanishbrass.com), with whom he won the First Prize in the International Brass Quintet Competition in Narbonne (France) in 1996, and since then he has dedicated himself exclusively to chamber music, giving concerts and masterclasses all over the world. Spanish Brass has recorded 33 CDs and 2 DVDs, and in 2020 they received the National Music Prize for Performance. Manolo is a Paxman artist and plays with the 20M Centenary model.
She began her musical studies at the age of 9, and later studied at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música in Torrent where she was taught by José Sebastià Ferrer. At the end of her studies she obtained the Professional Music Prize in the speciality of horn.
She studied horn performance at MUSIKENE, Higher School of Music of the Country Basque, with the teachers Rodolfo Epelde, Óscar Sala and Jorge Rentería. She extended her horn education with Manolo Pérez, as well as attending masterclasses with internationally renowned horn players such as María Rubio, Bernardo Cifres, David Fernández, Sarah Willis, Ab Koster, Marie Luise Neunecker, Markus Makuniitty, Wolfgang Gaag…
She has been a member of the Youth Orchestra of Valencia, the Youth Symphony Orchestra of FSMCV and the National Youth Orchestra of Spain. She collaborates with professional orchestras such as the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta de Valencia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao or Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, among others, under the baton of conductors like Juanjo Mena, Lorenzo Viotti, Karina Canellakis or David Afkham. She is currently the horn professor of the Conservatory of Music of Dénia and at the Guadassuar School of Music.
Antonio Morant, born in Valencia in 1991, is a professor at the Conservatorio Superior de Música ‘Joaquín Rodrigo’ in Valencia and has trained extensively at various institutions. He studied at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, obtaining his master’s and postgraduate degrees under the tutelage of Piotr Paleczny and Karolina Nadolska. He is also currently studying for a doctorate at the University of Valencia.
He began his musical training at the age of six and completed his higher studies at the ‘Salvador Seguí’ Conservatory in Castellón with the Venetian concert pianist Brenno Ambrosini, obtaining the highest marks and the final degree prize. He has studied Piano Pedagogy and a Master’s Degree in Performance and Research at the VIU, complementing his training with a degree in Music History and Science at the University of La Rioja.
Antonio has performed at important festivals and concert halls in Europe, premiering works by contemporary composers. In the chamber music field, he has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Sergei Nakariakov and Ara Malikian. Since 2018 he has been part of Simant Dúo with Rubén Simeó, with whom he has released three albums, most notably ‘New Way’, endorsed by Arturo Sandoval.
Winner of more than 25 international competitions, he has been recognised in prestigious competitions such as the International Piano Competition ‘Ars Nova’ and the ‘Alfred Schnittke’. In addition, he is regularly invited to give masterclasses and to sit on juries at international competitions.
Graduated from the CSM Joaquín Rodrigo in Valencia with a degree in violin and composition under María Carmen Antequera and Andrés Valero-Castells, and in orchestral conducting and choir conducting under Adolfo Ramírez and Nadia Stoyanova. In 2015, he obtained an Official Master’s Degree in Music from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, with honours in his final project, collaborating with the prestigious composer and conductor José Nieto. He has participated in youth ensembles such as the Castelló Youth Orchestra and the Generalitat Valenciana, among others, and has been a member of the Film Symphony Orchestra (FSO). He has received lessons and masterclasses from teachers such as I. Arditti, I. Bieler, E. Palomares, V. Balaguer, E. Sanz, L. Balada, R. Forés, F. Tamarit, R. Sánchez, C. Garcés, P. Marqués, G. Fritze, S. Alapont, M. Ortega, H. Guzmán, among many others. Honourable Mention at the Segorbe Choral Composition Competition (2010), commissioned to compose the music for the contemporary ballet ‘ODEIM’ by the Cienfuegos Danza company (2012). Scholarship for the Band Composition course with Gregory Fritze at Berklee Valencia (2017). Commission from the Provincial Council of Valencia ‘AHORA, Sonidos de Infancia’ (2022). He has premiered works with ensembles such as La OFUV, conducted by B. Fernández, the quartet ‘Nel Cuore’, the Orchestra and Band of La Artesana de Catarroja, the CSMV Orchestra, the CSMC Band, among others. He has conducted several ensembles, such as the Catarroja Artesana Orchestra, the CSMV Orchestra, the Corazón ‘Asociación de amigos de Cristòfor Aguado’ in Picassent, the Corazón de ‘San Esteve’, the Chelva Band, the CSMC Orchestra and Band, and the Catarroja Artesana Band, of which he has been the principal conductor since 2020. He has also been the principal conductor of the SIUM Orchestra of Tavernes de la Valldigna since 2023. He currently combines his work as a conductor with that of professor of Band and Orchestra Conducting at the CSMCLM.