Marieke Blankestijn, Violin

Born in the Netherlands, Marieke studied with Herman Krebbers and SandorVegh. She is a founder member of Chamber Orchestra of Europe and has been their leader since 1985. With them she has also appeared as a soloist working with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Bernard Haitink

With the Chamber Orchestra of Europe she has recorded and directed all the Brandenburg Concertos and made her own recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons’. She has recorded the Haydn ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ with Stephen Isserlis and the Bach ‘Oboe and Violin Concerto’ with Douglas Boyd.

In 2012 Marieke was appointed Leader of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and now commutes between Rotterdam and Dorset.

Ulrika Jansson, Violin

Originally from Vastervik, a small harbour town on the east coast of Sweden, Ulrika has lived in Stockholm since she started her musical education at the Royal College of Music aged 16. Her violin has taken her all around the world in many musical ‘constellations’: everything from jazz with drummer Max Roach’s quartet and a czardas duet with Romanian violin king Roby Lakatos, to a Schubert quartet providing interval music in Swedish television’s Eurovision Song Contest final. Membership of The Chamber Orchestra of Europe has had a profound effect on her life. The joy of making music with fantastic colleagues has never faded and lifelong friendships have ensued. It was also in the COE where she met her husband, a British trombonist, whom she snapped up and took to Sweden! Ulrika has been co-leader of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for many years. She loves the contrast this provides to her active life as a chamber musician, and she particularly enjoys her yearly visits to the unique and beautiful environment of Cerne Abbas. Ulrika spends as much time as she can at the family farm in Smaland, tending to the forestry plantations.

Douglas Paterson, Viola

Douglas was a member of the Schubert Ensemble from 1990 to 2018, with whom he has performed and broadcast in North, South and Central America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and many parts of Eastern and Western Europe. The ensemble has recorded much of the repertoire for piano quartet and piano quintet, commissioned some fifty works for piano and strings, and was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society prize for best chamber ensemble.

Douglas was previously principal viola with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the London Chamber Orchestra, also playing with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra. He was a member of the London Conchord Ensemble, and has played as a guest with a number of other chamber ensembles including performances with Alfred Brendel, Paul Tortelier, Gidon Kremer, Imogen Cooper and Stephen Kovacevich.

Douglas studied Social and Political Theory at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, Geography at UCL and Agriculture at Reading University, whilst studying the viola with Margaret Major and Peter Schidlof and playing in the European Community Youth Orchestra. He now combines his chamber music career with running the family dairy and arable farms in Hampshire and Pembrokeshire.

Iris Juda, Viola

Iris was born in Holland and studied violin with her father Jo Juda (leader of the Concertgebouw Orchestra), Hermann Krebbers in Amsterdam and then with Sandor Vegh in Salzburg. A founder member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with whom she still plays regularly, she has also played with the Nash Ensemble, the Hanson String Quartet, the Endymion Ensemble and the Hagen String Quartet. In 1995, Iris moved to Salzburg where she plays in an Austrian folk group and is Principal Viola with the Camerata Salzburg. Iris says that Cerne Abbas is a highlight of her year, “celebrating the beauty of music created by the Ensemble’s mutual love and friendship”.

Stephen Williams, Double Bass

Steve was born and grew up in South Wales, attending a vast comprehensive school where everyone had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Starting bass lessons when he was 14, he played in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the first ever European Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. Following four years at the Guildhall School, studying with Kevin Rundell and Tom Martin, he joined the RPO for several years, touring widely with Antal Dorati, Paavo Berglund, Kurt Masur and Andre Previn. In 1987 he was appointed principal bass with the English Chamber Orchestra, performing and recording with Daniel Barenboim, Mitsuko Uchida, Pinchas Zukerman and Jeffrey Tate. Steve holds the same position with the Britten Sinfonia. Recent activities include working as guest principal with the LPO and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and recording as a guest with the Tippett Quartet. As a studio player he has worked with Adele, Billie Eilish and Josh Groban. Steve plays an Italian bass made in the 16th century.

Ursula Smith, Cello

Ursula was principal cello of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 1993 for a decade, and was a member of the Zehetmaier Quartet from 2006 until 2012. Now Ursula is a member of the Fitzwilliam Quartet and is a cello professor and Senior Tutor in Chamber Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She has played chamber music at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Salzburg and venues such as the Wigmore Hall and Kings Place. She was asked to judicate at the international string quartet competitions in Salzburg in 2014 and in Banff, Canada in 2019.

Richard Hosford, Clarinet

Richard was born and brought up on a farm near Melcombe Bingham in Dorset. After studying with Patrick Shelley, of Dorset Opera fame, he went to the Royal College of Music in London. He was a founder member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and met many of the Gaudier Ensemble there in the early 1980s. He has since been Principal Clarinet of the London Philharmonic and now the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In chamber music, he divides his time between the Gaudier and the Nash Ensembles. He has performed concertos with many orchestras, recently broadcasting the Copland Concerto with the BBCSO. His recordings of the Copland Concerto, the Brahms Quintet and the Brahms Trio have all been First Choices on the BBC’s Record Review programme in recent years. He has a large class of clarinet students at the Royal College of Music, who now visit Dorset annually for a clarinet course and concert at Ashton Farm. Richard was recently made a Fellow of the RCM.

Hannah Shimwell, Clarinet and Bassett Horn

Yorkshire-born clarinettist Hannah Shimwell is a Wilkins-Mackerras Award holder studying for a Masters in Performance at the Royal College of Music. She studies under Richard Hosford, Timothy Lines, Peter Sparks and Paul Richards. She has worked with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Anna Rakitina and Ben Palmer, Barbican Sinfonia, St Paul’s Opera, Sinfonia Perdita and Klingen Chamber Orchestra. She also regularly performs with the Royal College of Music Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, and has had the pleasure to work with esteemed conductors such as Martyn Brabbins, Jac van Steen and the late Sir Andrew Davies. She also currently won a place on the BBC Symphony Orchestra Sit-In Scheme for the 2024/25 academic year.

Hannah enjoys playing with a variety of chamber ensembles and is part of prize-winning clarinet quartet, Hyde Clarinet Quartet, who won the June Emerson Music Launchpad Prize 2022, the Boconnoc Music Award 2023 and RCM Woodwind Ensemble Prize 2024. They recently performed at the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Rooms, and reached the Mixed Ensembles Final in the Royal Overseas League Competition 2024. She has also worked with Kensington Winds as part of Islington Festival, and is a founding member of the Ashton Ensemble, who recently performed at The Gardens of Highgrove House, Garsington Opera, Champs Hill and Dorchester Arts. Hannah was also grateful to have recently had the opportunity to perform the first two movements of Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet with the incredible Marmen Quartet, and perform Druschetzky’s ‘Concerto for Three Basset Horns’ alongside renowned clarinettists Timothy Lines and Colin Lawson.

Hannah also enjoys playing solo repertoire and was the winner of the Royal College of Music Solo Woodwind Clarinet Prize 2023, as well as being a recent guest soloist of the Alina Orchestra and Ampthill Orchestra performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.

Hannah’s love for music means she enjoys bringing music to as many people as she can. She works as both a private music teacher and as part of school environments across London, as well as regularly leading workshops and courses across the south of England.

Emily Crook, Clarinet and Bassett Horn

Emily is currently studying for a Masters degree at the Royal College of Music as a Leverhulme Arts Scholar. She studies under Richard Hosford, Peter Sparks,Timothy Lines and Barnaby Robson. At present, Emily is on trial for Sub-Principal Clarinet of the Welsh National Opera, and has appeared as a guest with BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Opera and as a soloist with the New English Concert Orchestra. Emily adores chamber music; she regularly performs with the Ashton Ensemble and Pente Winds, who have performed at venues such as Highgrove House, Garsington Opera, 11 Downing Street, Champs Hill and Dorchester Arts, and she will also be performing a solo recital at the 1901 Arts Club this Autumn. She has also had the pleasure of performing with the Marmen Quartet at the RCM Chamber Festival, as well as playing with Kensington Winds at Islington Festival. Recently, Emily won the clarinet prize in the Solo Woodwind Competition at the RCM, and is currently on the BBC Symphony Orchestra Pathway scheme. She is proud to be a member of the Hyde Quartet who have recently been selected as one of the winners of the Tunnel Trust awards. The Quartet reached the Royal Overseas League Mixed Ensemble Final last Spring, and have won the RCM Woodwind Ensemble Competition and the Boconnoc Award, as well as having performed at the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Rooms. She also regularly performs with the RCM Symphony Orchestra, with a particular highlight being performing Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin under Martyn Brabbins. Emily also enjoys encouraging and inspiring the next generation of musicians, passing down her love for music through her private teaching. Emily is very grateful for the support from The Drake Calleja Trust, Hattori Foundation, and The Munster Trust.