Formed in 1995 in Bucharest, ConTempo Quartet is recognised as one of the most exciting and vibrant chamber ensembles performing today. The quartet was chosen as Galway Music Residency’s Ensemble in Residence in 2003 and continues to captivate audiences throughout the city and county with its repertoire of classical, contemporary, folk and traditional music.

Focused on performance and education programmes, over the past 16 years GMR and ConTempo Quartet have developed countless opportunities for the people of Galway to engage with music in a meaningful way regardless of their age or circumstance.

The quartet has won a record 14 International prizes, including 1st Prize at the GrosserForderpreise Competition in Munich, 1st at the Valentino Bucchi competition in Rome, 1st at the Tunnel Trust Competition in London, 1st at Mozart competition in Romania, 2nd at the Johannes Brahms International Competition in Hamburg, the Audience Prize and 3rd at the London String Quartet Competition, among others.

In 2013, the ConTempo Quartet was appointed RTÉ’s Quartet in Residence and, in 2016, the members of the quartet were awarded Honorary Doctorates in Music from University of Galway for their service to Galway in the areas of music performance and education.

Bogdan Sofei, violin

Ingrid Nicola, violin

Andreea Banciu, viola

Adrian Mantu, cello

Defne Gultoprak is the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year 2024. She was awarded the prestigious Lucien and Maura Teissier Bursary for Pianists and the Fidelio Cup at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM), 2024. Some of her other recent awards include first prize at the RIAM Piano Fest Chisholm Sonata Cup (2024), first prize at the Feis Ceoil, Huban Cup (2024), first prize in the Margaret O’ Hea Recital Cup (2023), first prize at the Concorso Pianistico Europeo Premio Speciale (2021) and first prize at the Istanbul Pera International Piano Competition (2017).

In 2016, Defne gave her first international recital in North Cyprus, where she was invited to be part of the 20th International Bellapais Music Festival and was also selected to be one of ten pianists to participate in Lang Lang’s Allianz Junior Music Camp Program in Warsaw.

In 2024, Defne was selected to be one of the five participants of the Dublin International Piano Competition Young Pianists Programme. Defne has also been participating in masterclasses of world reknowned pianists such as John O’Conor, Hilary Coates, Finghin Collins, Noriko Ogawa and Christopher Elton.

Fergal Caulfield is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he obtained BA and PhD degrees in music, specialising in the late serial music of Stravinsky. He studied piano with Peter Dains at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, organ with Professor Gerard Gillen at the Pro-Cathedral, Dublin and also attended various scholarship masterclasses in the UK and Belgium. He holds performance and teaching diplomas in both instruments.

As well as performances in Europe he has given solo recitals at most of the major concert venues in Ireland, including the National Concert Hall, the Wexford and Galway Arts Festivals, St. Michael's Church Dún Laoghaire, the Pro-Cathedral Dublin, and Trinity College Chapel. He has additionally appeared as soloist in concerto performances with a number of ensembles, including the RTE National Symphony Orchestra (in the organ symphonies of Marcel Dupré, Camille Saint-Saens and Aaron Copland), and is a former prizewinner of the Dublin International Organ Festival (now Pipeworks). He is much in demand as a vocal and instrumental accompanist.

In addition to his interests in the fields of solo and chamber music, Fergal works regularly with the RTE National Symphony and RTE Concert Orchestras, Chamber Choir Ireland and the RTE Philharmonic Choir.

One of Ireland's most successful musicians, Finghin Collins was born in Dublin in 1977. He studied piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music with John O'Conor and at the Geneva Conservatoire with Dominique Merlet. He took 1st prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1999. Collins has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. He has also given solo recitals in many of the world’s most prestigious halls and participates frequently in chamber music festivals with a variety of colleagues of international standing.  

Finghin Collins is very active as a programmer, commissioner and concert presenter in Ireland, having been Artistic Director of the New Ross Piano Festival since its inception in 2006, and Artistic Director of Music for Galway since 2013.  In March 2023, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Dublin International Piano Competition. He chaired the jury of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 2023 and will again in 2025. 

In October 2017, the National University of Ireland conferred on him an honorary Degree of Doctor of Music, in recognition of his outstanding achievements.

Gwendolyn Masin is one of today’s significant concert violinists. She performs internationally as a soloist and in collaboration with musicians, artists and orchestras. Tours and live recordings include concertos and virtuoso repertoire with the Irish National Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Hungarian Chamber Orchestra, Slovak State Philharmonic, Savannah and Georgia Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Bernese Symphony Orchestra. Concerts take her all over Europe and the United States, as well as Asia, South Africa, and the Middle East.

Gwendolyn is a recording artist for Naxos and Orchid Classics. Her albums include solo appearances with and without orchestra, as well as chamber music. Her discography covers virtuoso, classical, and romantic repertoire.

She is the founding artistic director of GAIA Music Festival, that held its first edition in Stuttgart in 2006. The festival takes place annually in Switzerland since 2009, recognised as one of the country’s most important. Since 2022, Gwendolyn is on the executive board of the Music Instrument Fund of Ireland, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. As of 2024, Gwendolyn is a member of the Cultural Commission of the City of Berne.

Gwendolyn holds degrees with highest honours from the Royal Schools of Music in London, England; the Hochschule der Künste in Berne, Switzerland; the Musikhochschule in Lübeck, Germany, and a PhD from Trinity College, Ireland. Her teachers include her parents, Herman Krebbers, Igor Ozim, Ana Chumachenco, Zakhar Bron and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

Martin Johnson studied cello at the Royal College of Music, London, under the direction of Anna Shuttleworth, a former student of Pablo Casals, Andrew Shulman and Alexander Baillie. In 2000, he joined the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and has been their Section Leader for almost two decades. In 2006, Martin was invited to become a lifetime member of the World Philharmonic Orchestra.

Martin began teaching in Ireland in 2006 and many of his students have gone on to lead the celli in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, win international competitions, as well take up scholarships for further study in European and UK Conservatoires. He has enjoyed teaching at the Royal Irish Academy of Music since 2020 - both RIAM Junior and Degree level students – and is focussed on the RIAM Professional Mentorship programme for post-graduate cellists.

Martin is a UCD Arts and Humanities Faculty Creative Fellow, a Countess of Munster Scholar, an IT President’s Prize Winner (for a Thesis on Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote) and has been supported by the Musical Instruments Loan Fund and Music Network’s Music Capital Scheme in Ireland. He plays a fine cello by Thomas Kennedy of London c.1810 and an exquisite bow by legendary archetier Eugene Sartory made for the World Exhibition of 1908 in Paris/London.

Mia Cooper studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Yossi Zivoni, and completed her studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. After graduating, she joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as principal first violin, and has since been in demand as a guest leader with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal National Scottish Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonia and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ulster Orchestra and Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra.

Mia joined the RTÉ Concert Orchestra as Leader in 2006, and in the same year joined the violin faculty at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

4 in a Bar is an award-winning vocal quartet based in Dublin, Ireland. These four friends combine their classical music backgrounds with a love for modern, close-harmony singing.

The group’s concert programmes explore topics such as identity, nationality, conflict and love – all presented with characteristic spontaneity and wit.

A broad, yet select, repertoire includes new, commissioned works by living composers, folk songs, pop, barbershop, Early music and traditional Irish airs, some of which can be heard on the quartet’s two CD albums.

In 2024, the group celebrated the centenary year of Dublin-born composer Charles Villiers Stanford with a series of concerts featuring a new work by Rhona Clarke, commissioned with the support of the Arts Council. The work was premiered at Kaleidoscope Night (Dublin) on May 1st 2024.