Paul Medeiros
viool
Violinist Paul Medeiros was born in Halifax, Canada. He completed his Bachelor Degree in Music at Dalhousie University in June 2010 as a student of Philippe Djokic and Shimon Walt. During his study he appear several times as soloist with the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra. Paul is notably the 2006 winner of the Ramon Hnatyshyn Foundation Award.
Paul immigrated to The Netherlands in September 2010 and completed the Master Degree in 2012 at the Amsterdam Conservatory under the tutelage of Cornelius Koelmans and Lex Korff de Gidts. Prior-to and during his Master degree, he took part in masterclasses of Pinchas Zukerman (USA), Régis Pasquier (France), Yehonathan Berick (USA), Jeanne Lamon (Canada), Maarten Veeze (Netherlands), Philippe Graffin (Belgium), Gordan Nikolić (Netherlands), David Früwirth (Germany), Benjamin Peled (Netherlands), and the Danel Quartet (Belgium). Paul has performed with diverse orchestras and ensembles as the Maestro Orchestra, Doelen Ensemble, Sinfonia Rotterdam, RBO Sinfonia, The Paradiso Orchestra, 'Ostravská Banda’ (Czechia), and Symphony Nova Scotia (Canada). Presently he is concertmaster with the Orchestra of the Laurens Cathedral in Rotterdam and Promenade Orchestra of Amsterdam.
Paul is active as chamber musician, composer and arranger. He is the violinist and co-founder of the Haarlem Piano Quartet. Between 2020 and 2023, Paul was on tour with the “Theatre-Concert” productions “Beethoven Lost in Silence” and “The Leap of Nijinsky.” These two multi-disciplinary productions featured actors, dansers, film and musicians and were presented under the direction of violist and artistic leader, Esther Apituley. Paul has focused on the combination of classical music and theatre, as well as classical music and electronic music, ever since developing and performing in these productions. Since 2024, Paul is subsidized by organizations such as the Amsterdam Funds for the Arts (AFK) in order to fully realize his own theatre-concert productions and perform for a diverse audience.
Paul is also a passionate music teacher. He taught violin and viola from 2012-2024 at “De Vioolschool” in Haarlem, and is currently teaching at the Municipal Music School “Jaap Prinsen” of Bloemendaal. Since 2014 he is a guest-lecturer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, teaching Classical Music History to students of the Pop department.
Paul plays on a historical violin made by Ferdinando Gagliano (1774, Naples).
Jieun Kim
altviool
Korean violist Jieun Kim began her musical education in 2013, studying under Sungeun Kim at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, South Korea. She later moved to the Netherlands to pursue her Master’s degree and chamber music studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied with Ásdís Valdimarsdottir and Timur Yakubov, graduating in 2021.
As a soloist, Jieun is a first prize winner of the Sejong University Competition, as well as the grand prize winner of the Universal Music Competition. She is also an active chamber and orchestral musician. Jieun has performed as principal viola with the Sookmyung Philharmonic Orchestra and the Speranza Chamber Orchestra. She was also invited by Indiana University in the United States to perform in their concert series as a guest member of the “Quartet On.”
Since moving to the Netherlands, Jieun has performed in a wide range of festivals, ensembles, and concert halls. Her engagements include performances with the Residentie Orkest, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, New European Ensemble, Asko|Schönberg, Het Promenade Orkest, Gaudeamus Festival, Skazka Quartet, and the Doelen Ensemble.
She is currently working as a tutti violist with the Residentie Orkest.
Sheng-Chuin Lin
cello
Sheng-Chiun Lin is a cellist from Taiwan and base in the Netherlands.
In 2013, Sheng Chiun went to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam to pursue a Bachelor's degree in cello performance. He subsequently obtained his Master's degree in cello performance at the same institution in 2021, studying under Maarten Mostert and Jelena Očić.
In 2020, Sheng Chiun completed a Master's degree program in string quartet performance at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, studying under the Quatuor Danel, and at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in Germany, under the guidance of Professor Oliver Wille. He also won second prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb String Quartet Competition in Germany that year.
Currently, Sheng Chiun collaborates with Dutch harpist Joost Willemze and also Taiwanese composer Ling Hsuan Huang to perform contemporary music works in various exhibition spaces in the Netherlands. He also works with interdisciplinary artist Reza Mirabi as a resident artist at BAU, Amsterdam, and has performed in multiple cross-disciplinary festivals such as Julidans and ICK in Amsterdam. Starting in 2022, he is supported by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst) as the Artistic Director of Chamber X Chamber.
Nikos Stavlas
piano
Greek/British pianist Nikos Stavlas studied at the State Conservatoire of Thessaloniki, the University of Macedonia, and was offered a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London for postgraduate studies. He later earned a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, where he conducted practice based research on “Ludwig van”, a film and musical composition dedicated to Beethoven by the Argentinian composer Mauricio Kagel.
He has appeared in solo and chamber music performances in renowned venues such as the Wigmore Hall and the Purscell Room in London, the Athens Concert Hall, and the Palau de la Música in Barcelona. He has recorded live for BBC Radio 3, Catalunya Música, and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). He is a member of the Tetrachord Piano Ensemble, which focuses on repertoire for four pianists on two pianos, including original compositions for the ensemble. He has a long term collaboration with the soprano Patricia Caicedo, with whom he has studied, performed and recorded music by Iberian and South American composers for voice and piano. He is also a keen performer of new music, both as a member of the contemporary music ensembles Oihua and Ciklus, and as a soloist in his collaboration with the composer Hans-Jörn Brandenburg, with whom he has recorded two albums..
Nikos has taught piano masterclasses for advanced adult pianists for several years at Morley College and City Lit in London. As an instrumental coach, he has accompanied students at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, at the Royal College of Music in London, and at the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague. He is the principal accompanist of the Barcelona Festival of Song, and coaches chamber music groups at the Grittleton chamber music course in the UK.