Alexis Bennett  viola

Heather Bourne  viola


Alexis studied music, English literature and history at the University of Edinburgh before postgraduate training at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Alexis has performed with groups including Florilegium, The Dufay Collective and Horses Brawl, and is a familiar face on the London ceilidh scene as a caller and fiddler. He is also a composer, largely for filmmakers and animatoris, and his music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Channel 4, Turner Classic Movies and at film festivals worldwide, including Cannes, London and Edinburgh. He is currently researching his PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London and is the music technology tutor for The Amadè Players.
Heather began her musical studies on the violin at the age of 8, but was soon introduced to the viola and quickly chose it as her principal instrument. A member of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2011, Heather has also performed and toured with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2008 and 2009, with l'Orchestre de la Francaphonie in 2010 and 2011; she has been coached in chamber music by Domaine Forget and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland. Currently pursuing her Masters of Music on viola at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Heather completed her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Ottawa, Canada. In May 2011, Heather travelled to Norway with a string quartet from the University, where they had the opportunity to play Grieg's String Quartet in the Troldsalen concert hall at Grieg's house in Bergen.



Kristína Chalmovská  'cello


Donald Bennett  'cello/gamba


Mercedes Carroll  contrabass

Kristína Chalmovská was born in Bojnice, Slovakia and began studying cello at the Žilina Conservatoire, before continuing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Her musical studies started in 1994, and she has won several awards and competitions both in her native Slovakia and around the world including the Memorial Letter of St Gorazd, the Education Minister's Award and first place in the solo competition of the Slovak Conservatoires, the Slavic Music Festival in Moscow and winner of the Central European Foundation Talents of the New Europe and the Orange Fund grant programmes. She has performed with the Slovak State Philharmonic in Košice, and continues to develop a professional playing career alongside her studies. Kristína has also participated in masterclasses at the prestigious Kronberg Academy and Baroque Music Summer School in Kelc.
Donald is a cellist studying with Richard Lester at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He studies baroque cello with Alison McGillivray and viola da gamba with Liam Byrne. Prior to this Donald was an Instrumental Award Holder at Clare College, Cambridge and performed in Cambridge as co-principal cellist of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra and with the Cambridge University Collegium Musicum on baroque cello. Donald enjoys performing in a wide array of ensembles in London and projects have ranged from Arne to Zappa. Recent venues include LSO St Lukes and Wigmore Hall.
Mercedes is a London-based, Dublin-born bass player, whose latest freelance exploits include Bryn Terfel's Bad Boys tour, new works by Niall Vallely at the Cork Folk Festival, and a weekly outing with the Tradicional Cubano Trio. Other thinks that keep her busy include playing and planning for The Amadè Players, teaching tiny people to play the bass at the Royal Academy of Music's First String Experience and trying to make a recognisable noise from a gutstring bass. A founding member of The Orchestra of Situation Opera and 10.10 Ensemble, Mercedes co-produced 2010's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and is Education Leader for The Amadè Players.