Heloisa Amaral is a curator and performer (piano, historical keyboards, conducting) and lecturer in curatorial practices at the KC. Heloisa is currently finishing an artistic-research PhD on modes of presentation and performance of classical music at the University of Leiden – Academy of Creative and Performing Arts. Pedagogically, Heloisa is interested in new approaches to musical education and has recently done research on the implementation and reception of Master Project at the Royal Conservatoire.

Richard Barrett is internationally active as a composer and performer, and also teaches at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts at Leiden University. His work encompasses a range from free improvisation to intricately-notated scores, and from acoustic chamber music to innovative uses of digital technology. His book Music of Possibility was published by Vision Edition in 2019. After completing his recent research project ‘A Year in the Life of the Sonology Electroacoustic Ensemble’, he is currently interested in comparing improvisation in various artistic disciplines.

Inês d’Avena (Inês de Avena Braga – Rio de Janeiro, 1983) is a recorder player, teacher and researcher. Inês records for Passacaille, Challenge Classics, ORF Edition Alte Musik, Channel Classics, Ramée/Outhere and Sony Classical, and performs as a soloist, and in chamber and orchestral formations throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with ensembles such as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Köln, New Collegium, her duo with Claudio Ribeiro, and La Cicala, of which she is artistic director. Inês holds a PhD in Music from Leiden University and bachelor’s, master’s and teaching diplomas from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where, since 2012, she is a Teacher and Research Supervisor for the Master Program. Her research focuses on the rediscovery of Italian Baroque music and its performance practice, and she has had scholarly articles, essays and reviews published at Recercare, the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Tibia, Music+Practice and Blokfluitist. In 2015, Inês was a postdoctoral resident academic researcher at the Cini Foundation / Istituto Italiano Antonio Vivaldi in Venice.

Miro Herak studied classical percussion at the Conservatory of Zilina, Slovakia. After graduation he continued his studies at the Conservatory of Bratislava. There Miro became a member of the percussion section of the Slovak Radio Orchestra, in which he played until 2000. During this period Miro became more and more interested in jazz music and especially in the vibraphone. He decided to study with Frits Landesbergen, who teaches jazz vibraphone at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Miro has played all over Europe and in November 2005 performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. With the band 'As Guests' he won the 'Pim Jacobs Muziek Prijs 2004' and 'The Dutch Jazz Competition 2004'.

Anka Koziel is a versatile vocalist, composer, arranger and educator based in the Netherlands. In her singing she combines jazz improvisation, world music, extensive vocal techniques and any sound that she can produce with her voice to create interesting sound-scapes. She teaches jazz voice, odd meter combo and jazz choir at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and is an authorised Complete Vocal Technique (CVT) teacher. In recent years she dived into research concerning timing and rhythm, especially the influence of odd meters on improving one's sense of swing.

Violinist Joseph Puglia is praised for his “mindblowing” performances (Luister), and the “amazing, magical moments” he creates in concert, saying that “on the way home you notice that your ears have opened – even the familiar noise of the city sounds different” (De Volkskrant). His research looks into how active audience participation can create deeper musical connections in concerts, through the music of Pauline Oliveros. Joseph is a member of the Asko|Schoenberg ensemble, plays regularly as guest concertmaster with most of the major Dutch orchestras, and teaches violin at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He received his degrees at the Royal Conservatory studying with Vera Beths, and at Juilliard with Robert Mann.

Claudio Ribeiro (São Paulo, 1976), based in the Netherlands since 2000, is a sought-after harpsichordist and conductor in a variety of orchestras and ensembles, and a regular guest at the major concert venues and festivals in Europe, performing also in his native Brazil and in South Korea. Claudio records for labels as Ramée, Ricercar, Ambronay Éditions, ORF, Brilliant and Passacaille, is the co-founder and artistic director of baroque ensemble New Collegium, a member of La Cicala, Radio Antiqua and the duo with Inês d'Avena, and combines music making with an intense research activity focused on performance practice and the discovery of unknown baroque repertoire. Claudio holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, as well as a bachelor’s degree in conducting from the State University of Campinas. Claudio works as a harpsichord teacher and coach at the School for Young Talent and harpsichord accompanist for several departments of the Royal Conservatoire The Hague since 2006, and receives regular invitations to teach in festivals in Brazil and Europe.

Felix Schlarmann teaches jazz drums at the Royal Conservatoire. As a performing jazz musician, he is part of leading Dutch ensembles. His work focuses on the field of tension between jazz, world music and electronics. In addition to this he is the director and artistic director of Jazzfest Amsterdam, curates a monthly jazz series and is part of Splendor, a collective of musicians, composers and artists. In his research 'Crossing Borders', Felix looks for new forms of cross-departmental cross-genre activities and their impact on conservatoire students' motivation, creativity and artistry. By conducting and analysing a series of case studies around creative semi-formal student-centred projects, Felix hopes to obtain more insight in the opportunities offered by cross-genre activities, but also into what desires and motivations students have around this topic and what challenges lie in the feasibility of various concepts.

Aart Strootman is an internationally acclaimed guitarist and composer. In a short time he won the Gaudeamus Award, the Prix Annelie de Man and the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize. His practice is a convergence of performing guitarist, composer and instrument builder in which the writing of new works often goes hand in hand with the building of the instruments on which they are to be played. This provides interesting insights and dialogues that also form the heart of his current research. An important subject is the digital modelling of the developed instrument in order to make it usable worldwide.

Susan Williams is one of the world’s most well-known specialists in baroque trumpet. She teaches at The Royal Conservatorium of The Hague and at the University of the Arts in Bremen and has been giving regular courses in practicing and performance preparation. She has carried out research on the topics of attentional focus and musical imagery, as well as self-regulated learning for musicians. Together with Felix Schlarmann, Susan is currently working on the research project ‘Learning Pods: Harnessing Peer-learning and collective processes in Conservatoires’. This research is an exploratory investigation into how we can set up semi-formal peer learning groups in a conservatoire setting and what the outcomes and effects on the participants would be. Two types of peer-learning ‘Pods’ were set up – a Performance Preparation Pod (PPPod) and a Creative collaboration Pod (CCPod). The PPPod consists of five musicians (diverse instruments and study years) who meet for five weekly group sessions with the goal of preparing their recitals. The CCPod consists of twelve musicians from five different departments who will experience a two-phase program: a first phase with spontaneous cross-over duo projects and a collaborative group project in the second phase, in which the students have to act, function and create as a collective.