Cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher was born in Cologne, Germany, and has studied with Boris Pergamenshikov, Maria Kliegel, Siegfried Palm, Jacqueline du Pre, and William Pleeth. As a Fulbright scholar, she studied with Lynn Harrell in his Piatigorsky Class at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where she was awarded her Master of Music. As “most outstanding graduate of the year for performance, academic excellence, and leadership,” she received her doctorate under the supervision of Eleonore Schönfeld. Tess Remy-Schumacher has won first prizes in Germany’s Jugend musiziert, New York’s International Artist Competition, and Rome’s Carlo-Zecchi Competition. She has performed in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, including Wigmore Hall, London; Jubilee Hall, Singapore; Carnegie Hall, New York (1995, 2005); and Bradley Hall, Chicago. She has performed and taught at the Brisbane Biennial Festival, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the Contempofest (Australia), the Weathersfield Music Festival (USA), the Internationaler Klaviersommer (Germany), Phillips Andover Academy, and the Encore Music Festival (USA). In The New York Concert Review, Edith Eisler wrote of her 2005 Carnegie Hall recital, “Ms. Remy-Schumacher’s technique is disciplined… Her bow control and mastery of the fingerboard are complete; her intonation is excellent.” Dr. Remy-Schumacher has recorded for WDR, NDR, and MDR (Germany), WNYC (New York), K-USC (Los Angeles), ABC National (Australia), MBS-FM (Melbourne, Australia), and Swiss and Italian television. CDs include her own transcriptions of Schumann's Dichterliebe with Marcus Reissenweber and Christoph von Sicherer (HOME 98106); works by In Sun Cho for the Contemporary Music Society, Seoul; works of Villa-Lobos with guitarist Stefan Grasse (Xolo 1001); the Ibert Cello Concerto (recorded at Radio Hilversum) with solo cello works by Henze, Lutoslawski, Stahlke and Magrill (Xolo 1002); the Rachmaninov Sonata in with pianist Michael Staudt (Xolo 1004); cello works by Sam Magrill (Xolo 1006); and chamber works by Brahms and Magrill (Xolo 1008). She has just released the first volume of J.S. Bach Suites for Solo Cello (Xolo 1012). Following her appointment at James Cook University from 1992-98, she has been Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the University of Central Oklahoma. For the academic year 2010/2011 she is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. She plays a violoncello by Goldfuss Regensburg 2005. www.tessremyschumacher.com Michael Staudt Michael Staudt erhielt seine pianistische Ausbildung in Deutschland und Amerika. Nach dem mit Auszeichnung bestandenen 1. Staatsexamen Schulmusik an der Universität Mainz (Klavier bei Daniela Ballek) folgte ein Studium an der California State University Fresno und eine Assistententätigkeit an der University of Southern California in Los Angeles, wo er 1990 zum Doctor of Musical Arts promovierte. Zu seinen Lehrern gehören die Professoren Philipp Lorenz, John Perry und Roberto Szidon. Mit der Cellistin Tess Remy-Schumacher gewann er 1990 den 1. Preis im Internationalen Kammermusikwettbewerb "Carlo Zecchi" in Rom. Michael Staudt ist Dozent für Klavier und Schulpraktisches Klavierspiel an der Musikhochschule Mainz. Er ist aktiv als Pianist, Komponist und Liedbegleiter sowie als Initiator und künstlerischer Leiter des Internationalen Klaviersommers Bad Bertrich. Recording engineer Hermann Heinrich, born in 1965 in Regensburg, Germany, is internationally known for his recordings of instrumental, vocal, orchestral, and choral music. He holds degrees in Cello Performance (with Sigmund von Hausegger) and Education from the Musikhochschule Munich, and performs frequently in concerts as cellist and bassist.