Marie Stockmarr Becker pursues a versatile musical path, her activities span a wide range of musical expressions including early music on period instruments, contemporary music and improvisation.
Based in southern Sweden, Marie plays with ensembles in Scandinavia, Europe and beyond. She is violist in Concerto Copenhagen and she collaborates with early music ensembles such as Enghave Barok (DK), Camerata Øresund (DK), Göteborg Baroque (SE), Arte dei Suonatori (PL), Theatre of Voices (DK/UK).
A dedicated and curious chamber musician with a particular passion for the viola’s early repertoire, Marie brings her instrument into the limelight revealing rarely performed music to wider audiences. Amongst others, she has played early 19th century music for viola, flute and guitar with Biedermeier trio and adventured herself into the viola’s rare stylus phantasticus repertoire from the Codex Rost.
Marie is a member of the Icelandic group Nordic Affect with whom she enjoys performing and co-creating new music on period instruments. As principal violist in Basel Sinfonietta – orchestra specialized in new music – she toured Switzerland, Europe and Japan and collaborated with artists such as Laurie Anderson and Heinz Holliger. Through the years, Marie has presented a large number of chamber musical and orchestral world premieres.
Marie studied with Françoise Gnéri at the Conservatoire National de Région de Rueil-Malmaison (FR) before completing a master at the Music Academy of Basel and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (CH) with Geneviève Strosser and David Plantier as her principal teachers. She specialized further in early music at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Peter Spissky, Arek Golinski and Ketil Haugsand. In 2018, she won the American Bach Soloists Academy scholarship and in 2019 the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme scholarship.
Marie has worked with artists worldwide – collaborations from which she continuously draws inspiration in her musical trajectory. Her historical performance practice is particularly marked by personalities such as Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Rachel Podger, Jordi Savall, Philippe Herreweghe, Enrico Gatti, Chiara Banchini, Davide Monti, Maria Christina Cleary and the Helicona Project. See more about Marie here.
Ilaria Macedonio was born in Assisi into a family almost entirely composed of professional musicians. Beginning her piano studies at the age of seven, Ilaria won first prize at the Settenote Music Competition in Arrone aged eight. Since then, she has been a prizewinner at numerous competitions including the Piccole Mani Music Competition in Perugia, the Concorso Musicale Città di Castelnuovo Garfagnana and the Concorso Hyperion in Rome. In 2006 Ilaria gave her debut as a soloist with orchestra, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K414 with the Ensemble Le Metamorfosi Musicali in Umbria and Lazio, and later went on to study for her bachelor’s at the “G. Briccialdi” Music Conservatory in Terni where she graduated with first class honours.
In 2013 Ilaria won the Erasmus selection for a study exchange to Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2014 she enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen to study for a Master’s degree in Early Music under the guidance of Ketil Haugsand. Whilst studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Ilaria performed as a continuo harpsichord player for chamber groups and ensembles. As a soloist, she has performed the Goldberg Variations at Frederiksberg Slotskirke and Bach’s Concerto for 2 Harpsichords BWV 1060 in Copenhagen as well as Bach’s Concerto for Harpsichord BWV 1055 in Holbæk, Denmark.
Ilaria has attended masterclasses, workshops and seminars with Andrea Marcon, Andrew Lawrence-King, Peter Spissky, Imbi Tarum, Emma Kirkby, Enrico Gatti, Claudio Astronio, Maria Bania, Alfredo Bernardini, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Ton Koopman, Ketil Are Haugsand and Hille Perl.
In 2017/18 Ilaria studied at the Royal College of Music on the Artist Diploma Course with Jane Chapman and Terence Charlston. In London she performed at the Greenwich Music Festival 2017, at the Southbank Centre, and at the Mottisfont National Trust Museum in May 2018. Between 2019 and 2024, Ilaria has been active with concerts internationally; she debuted as a harpsichordist in Lund (Sweden), Schiedam (Netherlands) and Sastamala (Finland). See more about Ilaria here.