JOSUÉ MELÉNDEZ

Josué Meléndez (cornett, recorder), began his musical studies with trombone in Costa Rica at the Conservatorio Castella. From 1991-1995 he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Música, University of Mexico and founded the first Early Music Festival of Mexico; Festival Santo Domingo de Música Antigua, where he conducted L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi and many other projects. In 1997 Josué moved to The Hague where he completed two recorder diplomas at the Koninklijk Conservatorium, including one with distinction for New Music. From 2002 to 2006 he studied cornett at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Bruce Dickey. Since that time he has worked as a cornetto and recorder player worldwide in concerts and CD recordings with renowned early music ensembles such as Concerto Palatino, La Fenice, Les Cornets Noirs, Musica Fiata, Oltremontano, Nederlandse Bach Vereniging, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Academy of Ancient Music and with famous conductors such as Ton Kopman, Jordi Saval, Gabriel Garrido, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Claudio Cavina, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, etc.

The ensemble I Fedeli, which he founded, won the first prize at the "International Artist Presentation" in Antwerp and has recorder two CDs. He is a specialist in baroque improvisation and teaches cornett and diminution at the HfMDK Frankfurt and the HfM Bremen. He has given workshops on ornamentation and diminution at various universities and institutions such as the Udk Berlin, the HMF Freiburg, the UNAM Mexico, and the Academy of Urbino, among others.

FABIO DE CATALDO

 Born in Italy, Fabio De Cataldo began his trombone studies in Brescia (Italy), where he graduated in 2009. Since then he quickly became in demand with many Italian orchestras, theatres, and chamber music groups as a tenor and bass trombonist. In 2011 he moved to the Netherlands to continue his studies at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam with Professor Raymond Munnecom (Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Amsterdam). There, he got in touch with the baroque trombone, historically informed practice, and the early music community, which inspired him to deepen his knowledge, obtaining a master's degree in Utrecht at the HKU with Professor Adam Woolf. He soon started working all over Europe and beyond with the most famous ensembles and conductors in the early music scene, such as Cappella Mediterranea, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, the English Baroque Soloists, I Gemelli, Les Musician du Prince, Vox Luminis, I Barocchisti, the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, Ghilisieri Choir and Consort, La Grande Chapelle, and many others. He currently teaches historic trombone in Brescia (IT), and modern trombone at the Conservatory of Ravenna (IT) and the Conservatory of Pavia (IT).

MARIA MOROZOVA-MELÉNDEZ

Maria Morozova-Meléndez began her musical studies on the piano in Ukraine. She finished piano studies and post-graduate harpsichord studies at the P. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv. In 2008, she moved to Basel, Switzerland, to study harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she began playing the organ as well. Later she finished post-graduate studies in church music and organ in Luzern, Switzerland.

Maria is a solo and continuo performer specializing in 16th-17th century music. She performs with ensembles like I Fedeli (CH), Per-Sonat (DE), Canto Fiorito (LT), Giardino di Delizie (IT), The Ecoes of Loreley (CH) etc. Since 2015, she has worked as a choir conductor and organist at the Catholic church in Erschwil, as well as at the Catholic church in Büsserach, Switzerland. She is the head of the association “Freundinnen und Freunde Brosy- Orgel Erschwil,” which organizes a concert series on the historical J. J. Brosy-Organ (1788) in Erschwil. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Swiss association “Cornetto Revival,” for which she works as a harpsichord and organ player in ornamentation courses, CD recordings, symposiums, etc.  Since 2019, she has been giving courses and workshops in historical performance practice, improvisation, and historical temperament at the Music Academies of Kyiv and Lviv (Ukraine) and the Haliciana Schola Cantorum (Switzerland, Ukraine).