Cordula Fest (1st violin), Christiane Liskowsky (2nd violin), Christina Biwank (viola) and Ulf Prelle (violoncello) came together for the first time for a chamber music evening at Schloss Albrechtsberg in Dresden in 2012. The joy of this project and the good musical cooperation prompted them shortly afterwards to found the Collenbusch Quartet, as which the four musicians of the Dresden Philharmonic have been making music together ever since. It is named after the Dresden art lover and patron Friedrich Adolph Collenbusch (1841-1921).
Their programmes cover the whole range of quartet literature up to contemporary works - in April 2016 they opened a new programme series of the Dresden Philharmonic at Wackerbarth Castle with a "Philharmonic Serenade".
Cordula Fest
studied violin in Dresden and Graz and has been deputy concertmaster of the 2nd violins of the Dresden Philharmonic since 2003. She studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden and at the University of Music in Graz, winning prizes at the Bach Competition Leipzig and several times at "Jugend musiziert". She has performed in other chamber music ensembles in many European countries.
Christiane Liskowsky
received her musical education at the Dresden Academy of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Master classes with Igor Ozim and Christoph Schickedanz, among others, rounded off her studies. Since 2004 she has been a member of the 2nd violins of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra.
Christina Biwank
took up the viola at an early age and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich and at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Since 1998 she has been principal violist of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she has also performed as a soloist in works such as Hector Berlioz's "Harold in Italy" and "Don Quichote" by Richard Strauss. Since 2004 she has held a teaching position at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden.
Ulf Prelle
completed his studies in the USA, Basel and Cologne. He was a scholarship holder of the "Karajan Academy" of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has been 1st solo cellist of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra since 1992. Intensive chamber music activity with various partners has taken him to Germany and abroad. In 1990 he won the "Siegfried Barchet Competition" in Stuttgart. He teaches at the Dresden University of Music.