“A phenomenal musicality, no less artistic sensitivity and intellectual aristocracy awaken in this man dedicated to music a power of expression that one would like to call anti-virtuosity, because it has surpassed perfectly mastered virtuosity and elevated it to the core of higher values.” (Literatūra ir menas, Edmundas Gedgaudas) “In fact, it feels like his playing makes the world stand still for a moment.” (Hessische Allgemeine) “Anyone who plays a CD by this musician in the car is tempted to take a detour.” (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung) Johannes Hustedt studied music education and flute in Bremen with Renate Ruge-von Rohden and in Karlsruhe with Renate Greiss-Armin, where he , as awardee of the Richard Wagner Scholarship Foundation Bayreuth, graduated with honours in 1990. Masterclasses with Aurèle Nicolet, Alain Marion, Paul Meisen and András Adorján complemented his studies. With the aim of musical-cultural exchange, he performs worldwide as a crossover artist between interpretation and improvisation. World premieres and concerts at prestigious festivals such as Ludwigsburg, Hohenlohe, Madrid, Warsaw, Kiev, Lviv, Vilnius, Nida / Lithuania, Bergen / Norway, Toronto, Los Angeles and New York City bear witness to this, as do his internationally acclaimed CD releases as a soloist and chamber music partner, as well as worldwide radio and television productions. His playing is inspired by the exploration of music from all cultures, especially Asia, South America and Eastern Europe, as well as historical performance practice. Johannes Hustedt teaches at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and is an internationally sought-after guest lecturer and juror. Since 2023, Hustedt has been responsible for the artistic direction of the largest classical open-air concert in Baden-Württemberg: Mount Klassik as part of DAS FEST Karlsruhe with up to 20,000 listeners. He is dedicatee of numerous works by contemporary composers. As part of the Reger Year 2016, the Max-Reger-Institute Karlsruhe entrusted Hustedt with the posthumous premiere of Reger's Scherzo in G minor for Flute and String Quintet. He was also commissioned by the Archiv Frau und Musik in Frankfurt to give the posthumous world premiere of Felicitas Kukuck's third flute sonata as well as the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s authorized new trio version of "Über die Linie VI" in 2025. Hustedt's first recording of all of Georg Metzger's flute concertos with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra and Sebastian Tewinkel was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award in 2022. The duo querhorn with his wife Chai Min Werner has received the award Green Event BW from the state of Baden-Württemberg several times for its sustainable concert formats and was selected by an expert jury for the 2022/23 ensemble funding programme of the German Music Council and Neustart Kultur. Together with her, he founded the Kunsthaus-Durlach in 2006 with the aim of bringing music, visual art and spirituality to life.

Sontraud Speidel joined the class of exiled Russian Irene Slavin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe at the age of eleven. After graduating from high school, she studied with Irene Slavin and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen in Karlsruhe, Branka Musulin in Frankfurt, Stefan Askenase in Brussels and Géza Anda in Lucerne. She has won prizes at national and international competitions (1st Prize at the Schools of the Federal Republic of Germany at the age of 16, 1st Prize at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Washington D.C. / USA, Jackson Prize of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for New Music, etc.). Concerts, radio and CD recordings, television appearances and masterclasses have taken her to Europe, the USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Brazil and Morocco. Speidel is a professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She has been a guest professor at universities and conservatoires in Europe, the USA, Canada, Israel and Asia and is a regular judge at national and international competitions. Several contemporary composers have dedicated works to her and entrusted her with premieres. She was the soloist at the world premiere of David Winkler’s "Concerto for Piano and 13 Instruments" in Tanglewood / USA and in 1979, at the invitation of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, she gave a piano recital at the Palais Schaumburg Bonn. In Thessaloniki she played the Greek premiere of Alexander Scriabin’s Piano Concerto and in Karlsruhe the world premiere of Robert Schumann’s "Variations on a Nocturne by Chopin", newly discovered by Dr Joachim Draheim. In Solingen, she was the soloist at the world premiere of the piano concerto "Kristallspiele", dedicated to her by Violeta Dinescu. Speidel heads the Piano Podium Karlsruhe for the promotion of young musical talent and is co-founder and artistic director of the Musikforum Hohenwettersbach concert series. The Elisabeth Speidel Fund, which she initiated, supports talented musicians. She has been awarded the Silver Medal of Honour for Services to the State of Vienna, the Golden Josef Dichler Medal and the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2011, the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe awarded her the first-ever Eugen Werner Velte Prize. The Echo Klassik prize winner was honoured with the City of Karlsruhe’s Medal of Honour in 2024 and with the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg in 2025. She is a Steinway Artist, an honorary member of the Werner Trenkner Society Solingen, the Baden-Württemberg Tonkünstlerverband and Inner Wheel Nordschwarzwald.

Born in Leipzig, baritone Anton Haupt studied in his hometown at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” with Prof. Berthold Schmid, completing his Master’s degree in opera performance with distinction. Since 2022, his vocal training has been complemented by Michael Volle, and he is a student of the master class of Kammersänger Prof. Roland Schubert. Concert engagements with repertoire from the Baroque to the Romantic period have taken Anton Haupt to festivals such as the Lübeck Buxtehude Days, the Greifswald Bach Week, the Heinrich Schütz Music Festival, the Thuringian Bach Festival, the Stuttgart Bach Week, and the Leipzig Bach Festival. Well established within Leipzig’s musical scene, he performs regularly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, the St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig (dir. Andreas Reize), and the Gewandhaus Choir (dir. Gregor Meyer). Further musical partners have included the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart under Hans-Christoph Rademann, La Banda, la festa musicale, and ensemble reflektor. Anton Haupt was awarded second prize at the International Bach Competition Leipzig 2024 and first prizes at the International Vocal Competition “cantateBach!” Greifswald 2022 and at the Albert Lortzing Competition 2019. He has received important artistic inspiration from Johannes Martin Kränzle, Kammersänger Prof. Bernd Weikl, Andreas Scholl, and Patrick Grahl, among others.

Anne Marie Harer, musikalische Leitung Anne Marie Harer erhielt ihre Ausbildung an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover bei Prof. Ulf Schneider (Violine), Prof. Anne Röhrig (Barockvioline) und Stefan Möhle (Blockflöte). 2012 schloss sie erfolgreich ihr Studium mit dem Konzertexamen im Fach Violine ab. Anne Marie Harer konzertiert mit ihrer Barockvioline international als Solistin, Konzertmeisterin und Kammermusikerin in verschiedenen Alte-Musik-Ensembles und Kammerorchestern und tritt bei renommierten Festivals auf. Ihre Diskographie umfasst bereits diverse Einspielungen für die Labels Audite, CPO, Rondeau und Accent. Sie ist künstlerische Leiterin und Konzertmeisterin des Barockorchesters la festa musicale , gefragte Gastkonzertmeisterin bei u.a. der lautten compagney BERLIN, Schola Heidelberg, Das kleine Konzert und Cantus Cölln. 2021-2024 war Anne Marie Harer Dorothea-Erxleben-Stipendiatin und Lehrbeauftragte für Barockgeige am Institut für Alte Musik an der Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. 2024 wurde sie als Professorin für Barockvioline und Barockviola an die Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg berufen.