Gudrun Hinze studied in Düsseldorf and Essen. After engagements with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and the Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, she accepted the position of principal piccoloist in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1993.
She has also served as piccoloist in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra since 1999. Hinze is also an ambitioned teacher for her instrument and gives piccolo masterclasses and workshops. Two CDs of works from the piccolo literature document her solo engagements, one released on the Berlin Classics label and one on Talanton Records.
Gudrun Hinze is founding member of Quintessenz- Leipzig flute ensemble. The quintet consists of principal flutists of the Gewandhaus orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Leipzig and the Staatskapelle Halle. They play together since 1996 and are one oft he most highly renowned flute ensembles in the world. Her personal passion is the creation of arrangements for Quintessenz, most of them have been highly decorated with international rewards.
Patricia Morris studied on an open Scholarship with Geoffrey Gilbert at the Royal Manchester College of Music. Her career began in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, where she specialised in playing the piccolo. She has had a varied freelance career, playing with most of the major symphony orchestras in England, whilst occupying the chair of principal piccolo with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Patricia has a strong commitment to and enjoyment of teaching; she is professor at the Royal Academy of Music and gives master-classes at various conservatoires and courses in England and Europe. Patricia is the author of The Piccolo Study Book and co-author with Trevor Wye of Orchestral Study Books for Flute, Alto flute and Piccolo. In recent years, as a result of a long-term interest in how tensions in the body affect playing, Patricia trained and qualified as a Feldenkrais practitioner. She now uses this method to help musicians overcome habitual patterns which inhibit their performance.
Rena Urso enjoys a flourishing career as a freelance orchestral and chamber musician all over California. She is on the faculties at California State University Long Beach and California State University Stanislaus, and is a member of the Oakland Symphony, the San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra, and the Oregon Coast Music Festival Orchestra. Previously, Rena was a member of and toured extensively with the New York City Opera National Company and San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater.As a freelance orchestral musician, Rena regularly performs with many of the orchestras throughout California including the Pacific Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Monterey, Marin, Santa Rosa, Berkeley, Modesto, and California Symphonies, Carmel Bach Festival, and Festival Mozaic. She has also performed with the Seattle Symphony, American Ballet Theater, Bolshoi Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Hawaii Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.As a Licensed Andover Educator (Body Mapping Specialist), she presents workshops and masterclasses all over the world, as well as her course at CSULB, Body Mapping for the Performing Artist. Recent and upcoming engagements include the Juilliard School, Rice University, Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Stony Brook, University of Southern California, Rutgers University, the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas Austin, Arizona State University, among others.Rena is a Course Coordinator for California State University Summer Arts with her flute course, The Complete 21st Century Flutist. Additionally, she is delighted to be a returning guest artist at the Iowa Flute and Piccolo Intensive summer courses and the International Piccolo Festival in Grado, Italy.A native of Detroit, Michigan, Rena received her Bachelor of Music from Wayne State University, and her Master of Music with honors from California State University Long Beach. She is grateful to her principal teachers, Robert Patrick, Clement Barone Jr., John Barcellona, Anne Zentner, and her father, Santo Urso.For more information about Rena, please visit: www.renaurso.com
Marta Rossi, born in Rome and gradueted with the highest honors at Music Conservatory “S.Cecilia”, studied with Mario Ancillotti, Angelo Persichilli, Raimond Guiot, Wolfgang Schulz and for the piccolo with Nicola Mazzanti. She regulary performs in recital or chamber music concerts and has been invited as guest piccolo player at international Festivals, such as Festival “Severino Gazzelloni”, several editions of “Flautissimo” in Rome, “Italian Experience” at New York Hofstra University, Italian Cultural Festival of Mumbay, Craco Landscape Flute Festival, NFA Annual Flute Convention (USA). As a solist she performed with several Orchestras (Solisti Aquilani, Orchestra di Roma e del Lazio, Orchestra Tartini, Orchestra da Camera del Gonfalone, Orchestra del Conservatorio di S.Cecilia, JuniOrchestra di S. Cecilia, Chamber Orchestra Juvenalia Espoo of Finland) in repertoire concerts, like the whole Vivaldi piccolo Concerts. She gave also premieres for solo piccolo and orchestra by Irma Ravinale, Azio Corghi, Luigi Marinaro and the italian premiere of the Piccolo Concerto by Lowell Liebermann at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. She played in recording sessions for films soundtracks with Oscar prize winners Ennio Morricone, Louis Bacalov and Nicola Piovani, joining them for international concerts. In 2006 she obtained the Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” with highest honors. She teaches Piccolo at the Accademia Italiana del Flauto in Rome. Winner of orchestra auditions, she played as First Flute in Orchestra Giovanile Italiana and Orchestra Regionale del Lazio, cooperated with Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and since 2002 as Piccolo and Flute player she is a member of the Orchestra of the Rome Opera House.