Emanuel Ban began studying privately at the age of eight. His previous violin and viola professors include Desiree Ruhstrat, Olga Kaler, and Rami Solomonow. Emanuel was the recipient of the 2003 Park Ridge Civic Orchestra and the 2005 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale scholarships. He was also a finalist with the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra and the DePaul Symphony Orchestra concerto competitions in 2006 and was a member of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Indianapolis. He completed both his Bachelor and Master of Music degree in Violin Performance at DePaul University and is currently a freelancing musician in the Chicagoland area.

Aimee Biasiello received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Chicago College of Performing Arts as a student of Roger Chase, Jeffrey Irvine, and Lynne Ramsey. She has performed with string quartets at Aspen, Encore, Utah, and Casalmaggiore International Music festivals and has had the privilege to work with Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet. Aimee has also appeared with the International Chamber Artists, Millenium Chamber Players, Camerata Chicago, and the Ravenswood Concert Series, and is a founding member of the Chicago Q Ensemble. Aimee currently performs with the Chicago Q Ensemble, and serves violin and viola professor at the Music Institute of Chicago and at the Metropolis School of Performing Arts.

Aurelien Fort Pederzoli, a French-born violinist, has quickly risen to be known as one of Chicago’s most creative and sought-after collaborators. He has played for major Chicago organizations such as Ensemble Dal Niente, International Chamber Artists, CUBE, Accessible Contemporary Music, Atlantic Classical Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and The University of Chicago chamber music series. As a founder of the Anaphora ensemble, Aurelien has worked with new music icons such as Marcos Balter, George Flynn, Michael Daugherty, Virko Baley and August Read Thomas. Before coming to Chicago, Aurelien toured Europe and the U.S. as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, performing with numerous orchestras and appearing at festivals such as the Oleg Kagan Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Mostly Mozart, and the Ravinia Festival. He has made many television appearances (FR3, CBS, WGN, NBC) and has performed live on radio (WFMT, RSC, WXQR, France Musique). As an orchestral player, he is the concertmaster for the Highland Park Strings and the Skokie Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues. Aurelien has had the great pleasure to play and work closely with masters such as Ruggiero Ricci, Vadim Repin, Yuri Bashmet, Misha Maisky, Gidon Kremer, Ilya Kaler, Daniel Barenboim, and Yehudi Menuhin.

Paul Ghica is a native of Bucharest, Romania. At the age of eight, he began lessons with his father and was accepted into the studio of the Romanian cellist Corneliu Radulescu. At fifteen, Paul appeared in a chamber music concert with celebrated pianist Emanuel Ax, and soon afterwards made his solo debut with the Merit School of Music Chamber Orchestra. A passionate advocate of new music, he has been featured on WFMT and has toured in North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Mr. Ghica earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance at Roosevelt University, where he is currently obtaining a Master in Music degree. He is also co-principal cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and principal cellist of the Lira Chamber Orchestra.

Christopher Ferrer is currently a student of Cheng-Hou Lee at Northern Illinois University. As a member of the professional string ensemble Camerata Chicago and Quartet Astoria, Christopher enjoys an active performance schedule throughout the Chicago area. In addition to working with bands such as My Morning Jacketand Halfpenny Marvel, he has been a featured artist in the soundtracks of several independent films including Cutting Edge, and The Chicago Typewriter. Christopher studied music performance with cellist Alexander Boyarsky at the Royal College of Music in London, where he also founded and collaborated with the Stadler Clarinet Trio. Past teachers include John Sharp & Ann Hendrickson Griffin.