Mari-Liis Uibo, born in 1990, started to play the violin at the age of six with teacher Ivi Tivik. 1997-2006 she studied at the Tallinn Music High School, completed the Bachelor of Music program at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in the violin-class of Professor Gerhard Schulz (Alban-Berg-Quartet) in 2012 and continued in the Artist Diploma program with Professor Milan Vitek at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She earned the distinguished Artist Diploma in May 2014. Mari-Liis has successfully participated in several national and international competitions. 2004 she was finalist and prize-winner at the 1st World Violin Competition in Trento/Italy. She has been awarded diplomas at several ESTA Competitions for Estonian Young String Players. She was winner of the Danenberg Honors Recital in chamber music as well as in the soloist category and finalist of the 25th Flame Competition in Paris. Since 2001 she has regularly taken part in summer-courses and masterclasses: Maestro Ivry Gitlis, Prof. Alexander Fischer, Prof. Anatoli Reznikowski, Prof. Per Enoksson, Elena Denisova, Ilia Korol, Areta Zhulla, Sirpa Lannes-Tukiainen, ISA 09 and ISA 11 – Interpretation of Contemporary Music (with Klangforum Wien and Nigel Osborne), string quartet training program (with Jupiter String Quartet).
Cellist Aare Tammesalu acts as a soloist and chamber musician, performing classical and contemporary music. Besides, he is an active music producer and pedagogue. In 1985, Tammesalu graduated as a cellist from the Tallinn State Conservatory.
Later he acquired a Master’s degree at the Estonian Academy of Music. He has enriched his university experiences by taking private lessons from Mikhail Homitser in Moscow and participating in the master courses of Martin Ostertag. In 1987, Aare Tammesalu won a prize at the Contest of Estonian String Instrument Players.
As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed with several Estonian symphony orchestras and in numerous European countries, Canada, Israel, Iran, Russia and the USA, as well as participated in various Estonian music festivals. He is a member of the Tobias String Quartet and Resonabilis Ensemble. Aare Tammesalu has been the first performer and introducer of the works by Giovanni Bonato, Eino Tamberg, Lepo Sumera, Andres Uibo, Andrus Kallastu and others. He has released a CD with Estonian cello music (2010 ERES).
He was engaged as a performer and organizer of the musical accompaniment for the new production of the Estonian silent feature film "Young Eagles" (1927). He has organized Bach Competition in Tallinn in 2000 and
Pärnu Violin Competition in 2008 and 2010. Aare Tammesalu was awarded the Hendrik Krumm Culture Prize for founding and directing Mustjala Music Festival that takes place since 1995.
