ENRIQUE GÓMEZ-CABRERO FERNÁNDEZ (director)
Born in Spain, Enrique Gómez-Cabrero Fernández graduated in 2010 from the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, where he studied under renowned early music experts such as Ryo Terakado, Enrico Gatti, Elisabeth Walfisch, and Ton Koopman. This strong foundation in historically informed performance practice has shaped Enrique’s flourishing career as both a conductor and violinist in the baroque music scene. Acclaimed as one of today’s most vibrant and flamboyant artists, he breathes new life into baroque music through his innovative and engaging interpretations.
Enrique has previously served as conductor of the Lausitzer Baroque Ensemble and Accademia Ars Augusta, and he is currently the conductor of the Handel Opera Academy and the La Villanesca Baroque Ensemble. His extensive opera repertoire includes over 20 productions, featuring works such as Handel’s Agrippina, Giulio Cesare, and Alcina, as well as Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Cherubini’s Médée, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Enrique has also revived and conducted forgotten operas like Lotti’s Giove in Argo and Bioni’s Issipile for theatres such as the Opera Theatre of Szczecin and Gerhart Hauptmann Theatre in Görlitz.
He has collaborated with world-class musicians such as Paul McCreesh, Marcel Beekman, Luca Giardini, and Jakub Józef Orliński, and performed with renowned ensembles like La Ritirata, Sezione Aurea, and the Wrocław Baroque Orchestra. Enrique has been concertmaster and soloist for the Bach Orchestra of the Netherlands and Contrasto Armonico, with whom he has recorded over 15 CDs. Additionally, he has performed as guest concertmaster for various groups and is a member of the Soloists of the Capella Enrico Stuart in Rome.
In addition to his work in baroque music, Enrique has collaborated on film projects that have earned multiple nominations and awards at international festivals. His broad expertise as a musician and conductor continues to elevate the art of early music across Europe, America, and the Middle East.
Enrique’s website www.enrique-gomez.com
ANNE GRIMM (Vocal Coach)
Dutch/Canadian soprano Anne Grimm studied voice in Amsterdam and London and is recognized for her work in opera, concert and recital throughout Europe, North America as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
Anne toured extensively with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Ambronay, Salzburg Festival) as well as with the Amsterdamse Bachsolisten, also appearing with at the Händel-Festspiele Halle and Potsdam Festival Sanssouci. Other highlights include touring with Frans Bruggen and the Orchestra of the 18th Century as well as Christian Zacharias, Massimo Zanetti, Christoph Rousset amongst others.
Appearances in North America have include the Tanglewood Festival, the National Arts Center Orchestra under Pinchas Zuckerman, Toronto’s Tafelmusik, Symphony Nova Scotia, Winnipeg Symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Cleveland based Apollo’s Fire at the Ojai Festival in California.
Recognized for her performances in contemporary music, Ms. Grimm toured with Aventa to New York and Montreal as well as to Australia in Gavin Bryars’ opera, Marilyn Forever. Most recently she performed Rudolf Komorous’, The Mute Canary with Turning Point Ensemble of Vancouver in the Czech Republic.
She has recorded extensively for Erato, NM Classics, Vanguard Classics, Troubadisc, Sony Classics and Harmonia Mundi France as well as for CBC Radio, ZDF, RAI, Radio France and VARA in the Netherlands.
Ms. Grimm is on faculty at UVic’s School of Music and at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She also teaches at summer vocal programs including Opera Nuova and the Sicily Music Festival and Competition in Noto, Italy.
PAUL LUCHKOW (string coach)
Paul Luchkow is a versatile violinist and violist whose activities cover the range of music from the 17th Century to the present day, on modern and period instruments. A regular feature of Western Canada’s Early Music scene, Paul is a long-time member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and appears frequently in concerts for Early Music Vancouver. At home on Vancouver Island, he performs regularly with Victoria Baroque, Victoria Symphony, the Early Music Society of the Islands, as well as at Victoria’s Pacific Baroque Festival.
A highlight of recent years has been his work with fortepianist Michael Jarvis and their exploration of Classical and Romantic sonata repertoire on period instruments. Their latest recording – Trios for violin, viola da gamba, and fortepiano by Tommaso Giordani with the British gambist, Sam Stadlen, was released on the Marquis Classics label in the Fall of 2020.
As a recording engineer for 15 years Paul has made concert and CD recordings for many of the important small and medium sized ensembles on Canada’s west coast, including Redshift Music Society (Jordan Nobles 2017 JUNO winning Classical Composition of the Year), Emily Carr String Quartet, Victoria Baroque, the Luchkow-Jarvis Duo, and the Luchkow Stadlen Jarvis Trio. In the past year Paul has been working closely with organizations like Music for the Pause, The Victoria Symphony, and Pacific Opera Victoria, recording for their numerous online offerings.
ROMEO CIUFFA (wind coach)
Romeo Ciuffa is from Rome, Italy. He began playing music at eight years of age in a local band, and took his first flugelhorn classes at that time. In 1989 he studied french horn at the Conservatoire of S. Cecilia in Rome, under the supervision of M° Luciano Giuliani. Romeo also studied bass tuba and trombone at the Conservatoire. Here he studied different musical styles, but was most deeply touched and impressed by ancient music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Romeo then studied the recorder at the Conservatoire “O. Respighi” in Latina instructed by M° Paolo Capirci. He has also studied with Marion Verrebruggen, Dan Laurin, Kees Boeke and Pedro Memelsdorff. Besides his musical experiences in Italy, Romeo has held concerts on recorder in China (Beijing), North Korea (Pyongyang) and Mongolia (Ulan Bator), in Russia, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Holland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Zambia, Syria, Germany, Japan, Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Albania.
In 1997 Romeo founded the “Arcangelo Corelli Ensemble” with which he recorded ten CDs of excerpts from Seventeenth and Eighteenth century European music. In the following years he joined several Roman musicians specializing in baroque practice and formed the “Cappella Musicale Enrico Stuart Duke of York” giving Mr. Cuiffa the opportunity to record works by M.A. Charpentier, M.R. Delalande, J.P. Rameau, and J.B. de Boismortier. In 2006 Romeo obtained his academic degree in Musicology at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” summa cum laude. In 2012 he gave a master-class at the Royal College of Music of London at the department for the historical practice guided by Ashley Solomon. He is now the musical director of “Rassegna Cembalistica”, “I Concerti di Campagna”, “MonteCompatri in Jazz”: all musical events promoted in the “Castelli Romani” zone, near Rome, with musicians from all over the world.
SIMONE PIERINI (harpsichordist)
“Harpsichordist Pierini is not yet 30 … I will want to hear everything he does. His musicianship is superb.” (American Record Guide, January/February 2025)
“One cannot find any fault with Pierini’s work … this is one set that really ought to be a part of any collection of Baroque keyboard music. Highest recommendation.” (Fanfare, January/February 2024)
Nominated by the British radio Classic FM as one of the thirty most important musicians under 30 for the year 2024, Simone El Oufir Pierini performs regularly on both the harpsichord and the fortepiano, with a repertoire spanning from the 16th century to the late 19th century.
Born in Rome in 1996, Simone began studying the piano at the age of eight. Aged eighteen, he graduated in piano from Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome with highest honours. After initially pursuing a career in piano, obtaining a number of prizes in national and international competitions, his interests turned mainly on historical performance practice, and he later took a master’s degree in Harpsichord under the guidance of E. Baiano, again with highest honours.
Simone also undertook the study of historically informed piano practice, taking part in courses and masterclasses held by A. Lubimov, A. Staier, G. Bonino, J. Sprosse, T. Koch, M. Bartoccini, S. Fiuzzi. He obtained a master’s degree in Musicology in 2022 cum laude from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, with a dissertation upon the transition between harpsichord and fortepiano in contemporary literature.
Starting in the year 2025, Simone began a Master’s in Specialized Music Performance – Harspichord with Andrea Marcon at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland.
He is a member of the Cappella Musicale Enrico Stuart ensemble, with which he performs as a continuo player on the harpsichord and organ. He has performed, as well as in Italy, in the UK, Germany, China, Canada, Poland, Finland, Spain.
Simone’s website www.simonepieriniharpsichord.com