Jan Vermeulen is considered one of today’s most prominent fortepiano virtuosos. After his piano studies at the Brussels conservatory, his interest and urge for authenticity pushed him into the direction of historical instruments. His pioneering recording of the sonatas of CM von Weber at the beginning of the nineties marked the start of a flourishing career as a fortepiano artist. In that same period he founded the Florestan Fortepiano Trio. This ensemble (later renamed Tröndlin Trio) was one of the first to perform the classical romantic repertoire on authentic instruments.

Now Jan Vermeulen harvests worldwide fame with the recording of Schubert’s complete piano works for the Label Et’Cetera, an opus magnum which he completed in 2010. Following this project, he was chosen “Musician of the Year 2010’. His extensive discography has received great acclaim from the international press and he is widely praised as “the ideal Schubert interpreter”. Jan Vermeulen’s interpretation marks his mastery. The latest double CD with works by Robert Schumann is acclaimed and received as one of the most important contributions to the Schumann Year 2010.

As a soloist Jan Vermeulen has performed all over Europe. His love for chamber music brought him together with musicians such as Wieland Kuijken, Paul Dombrecht, Christine Busch, Roel Dieltiens, Marcel Ponseele, Anne Cambier and the ensembles Explorations, Il Gardellino a.o. In 2010 he started performing with cellist France Springuel. They have recently recorded work by Schubert and Schumann. These releases will be followed by the recording of the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and other classical and romantic composers. Besides his career as a performer, Jan Vermeulen is also a dedicated pedagogue. He teaches piano, fortepiano and chamber music at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven (Belgium). Jan Vermeulen has an exceptional collection of historical fortepianos which deliver the true sound of the original compositions.

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Christine Busch was born in Stuttgart and grew up in Mössingen / Tübingen. As a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, she studied with Wolfgang Marschner and Rainer Kussmaul in Freiburg, Boris Kuschnir in Vienna, and Nora Chastain in Winterthur. During this time she already had a chance to work with Concentus Musicus Wien (an inspiring experience with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his musicians), the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Freiburger Barockorchester.

Since then she has enjoyed a successful career as a soloist and chamber musician on both ‘modern’ and ‘Baroque’ violin in concerts and at festivals in Europe, the USA, Japan, and Australia. She particularly enjoys working as Konzertmeisterin with Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent and with Kay Johannsen in Stuttgart.

Christine Busch made numerous CDs in the early part of her career, notably on harmonia mundi france, Dabringhaus und Grimm, and cpo, with such ensembles as Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Camerata des 18. Jahrhunderts, and Salzburger Hofmusik. Then, from 1997 to 2007, she recorded chiefly with Ensemble Explorations, in a series of releases on harmonia mundi france that included Rossini’s String Sonatas, string quintets by Boccherini, the Mendelssohn Octet, and works by Dvor?ák (the Bagatelles and the Piano Quintet op.81), played with the appropriate instrumentarium for the period of composition (the Dvo?rák, for example, was performed with gut strings and a Steinway piano dating from 1874). In 2003 Carus Verlag Stuttgart released J. S. Bach’s sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord (with Kay Johannsen), followed on the same label in 2005 by a much praised CD of the quartets of Joseph Martin Kraus with the Salagon Quartett, her string quartet, which also performs with instruments appropriate to the period in a repertory ranging for the most part between Haydn and Mendelssohn. For Philippe Herreweghes label “Phi” she recorded, on barock violin “Sei Solo”, the Sonatas and Partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach. She also performs regularly with the Epos Ensemble in Austria. From 1997 to 2000 Christine Busch was a Professor at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin. In the year 2000 she was appointed to a post at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart.

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France Springuel: When France Springuel won the fourth prize of the International Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow, she took place among the greatest cello-soloists in the international concert world. She also was prizewinner at the TIJI Competition in Bratislava, and got the ‘Prix du jeune soliste’ in Montréal. In 1983 France Springuel was proclaimed ‘Soloist of the Year’ in Canada, Switzerland, France and Belgium, and in 1986 she was the ‘Festival Star’ at the Flanders Festival.

France Springuel performed with famous orchestras and conducters in prestigious concertseries in the Lincoln-center in New York, the ‘salle Gaveau’ in Paris, the ‘Hercules hall in München, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Barbican center in London and many others. Famous conductors as Lorin Maazel and Yehudi Menuhin were impressed by her exceptional musical talent. In chamber music formation she played with Salvatore Accardo, Igor Oistrakh, Pierre Amoyal, Renaud Capuçon, Pascal Devoyon, Nikita Magalov, Jaques Klein, Ronald Brautigam, Gérard Caussé, le quatuor a cordes ‘Melos’, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Bruno Giuranna, Lynn Harell, Anner Bijlsma, Bruno Canino , José Van Dam.

France Springuel is an accomplished technician, but her mastery of technique is fully subordinated to musical expressiveness. Her interpretations are always characterized by their natural quality, their virtuosity and their wealth of subtlety. Her versatility and tha uncontrived directness with wich she brings life to the great romantic concertos of Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Dvorak as well as Shostakovitch and Lutoslavsky, have earned praise wherever she plays.

In 2010 she started performing with pianist Jan Vermeulen. They have recently recorded work by Schubert and Schumann. Also the recording of the complete works for cello and piano by Beethoven. These releases will be followed by recordings of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Fauré and other classical and romantic composers. France Springuel unusual Italian instrument, a Tomaso Balestrieri, dates from 1752.