Katja Katanova – Mélusine de Pas – Tetsuhiro « Tetsu » Isaji

Katja Katanova began learning the violin at the age of five, under the guidance of Stanislav Popel. She graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and subsequently from the conservatoires in Vienna and Brussels. She studied the Baroque violin with Dmitry Sinkovsky, Ulli Engel, Gunar Letzbor, Erich Höbarth, Benoît Douchy and Mira Glodeanu. Today, Katja is the artistic director of the Baroque chamber music ensemble Iris Ensemble, as well as the principal violinist of the Montis flute quartet and the klezmer ensemble Balagole Band.

Mélusine de Pas discovered early music whilst performing with the Pages de la maîtrise ensemble at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, conducted by Olivier Schneebeli. She continued her vocal training under the guidance of Nicole Corti and Lionel Sow with the Chœur de Notre-Dame de Paris, and subsequently sang under the baton of Hervé Niquet, Bruno Boterf and John Nelson. The Chœur grégorien de Paris marked another important stage in her musical training. She was introduced to the viola da gamba under the guidance of Philippe Foulon. At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, she studied with Nima Ben David and Christophe Coin, and at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels with Philippe Pierlot. Among the ensembles with which she performs in concert and on recordings are the Collegium Marianum, the Ensemble Inégal, the Collegium 1704, the Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, Musica Florea, the Czech Baroque Ensemble and the Cappella Mariana.

The Japanese harpsichordist Tetsuhiro ‘Tetsu’ Isaji has performed as a soloist, continuo player and ensemble leader in the Benelux countries, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. His passion for early keyboard instruments is a key driving force behind his work. This has been further strengthened by regular collaborations with harpsichord maker Bas Neelen, both within the workshop and beyond: they performed to an audience of two thousand people at the Vleeshuis Museum in 2025 and are planning further events in the future.