Dieter Flury is the flutist of the ensemble. He studied privately with Hans Meyer (solo flute of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich). After the Matura he devoted himself to specialized concert study with André Jannet, 1971-76, receiving his solo diploma in 1974 and orchestra diploma in 1976. He occasionally visited Aurèle Nicolet. In 1977 he was hired by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, and is since 1981 first flute of the Vienna Philharmonic. He has written studies on mathematical music theory (»Axiomatische Theorie der Töne«), and is since 1996 director of a training class at the Graz Arts University and also lecturer at the International Kurt Pahlen Summer Academy in Lenk (Switzerland). In 2005 he was chosen as business manager of the Vienna Philharmonic. Flury was a founding member of the Vienna Wind Ensemble and of the »Société de l’Art Acoustique« (later renamed Klangforum Wien), and of the Vienna Virtuosi. His chamber music appearances include those at the Wiener Festwochen, the Salzburg Festival, the Salzburg Mozartwoche, and the Carinthian Summer. He has undertaken concert tours in Europe, Australia, Asia, and in the USA. He has made solo appearances with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Wiener Symphoniker, under conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Sir Roger Norrington, and Edmond de Stoutz. His CD recordings on SME Kehlhof (Switzerland) and Camerata Tokyo include »Quasi una Fantasia« (Telemann’s solo Fantasias) and solo works of the 20th century (Halffter, Berio, Scelsi), and also Bach’s Flute Sonatas and Violin Sonatas with organ.

René Staar is violinist and composer. As conductor he has directed the Ensemble Wiener Collage since its foundation in 1987. He has also appeared as violinist with this ensemble, for example at the festival Wien Modern, the Salzburg Festival, Stars of the White Nights, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Vienna Musikverein and Vienna Konzerthaus, and in numerous other venues in Europe, Japan, and the USA. He has also performed his own works together with the Vienna String Soloists, for example Metamorphoses of a Labyrinth, at concerts in France, Japan, Vienna, and St. Petersburg. Staar studied conducting (with among others, Hans Swarowsky) as well as violin, piano, and composition in Vienna and Helsinki. Fluctuating at first between Vienna, Geneva and other places as free-lance violinist and composer, he was engaged in 1987 by the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, and later became section leader in the Vienna Philharmonic. His pedagogic activities include analysis seminars as well as conducting various youth orchestras, for example in Graz and in China. The first volume of his modern violin method is to appear in 2014. Josef Martin and later Nathan Milstein in his master classes stimulated Staar’s involvement with baroque music, particularly that of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Tamás Varga was born in Budapest and studied cello at that city’s Franz Liszt Academy. He received important artistic impulses in the master classes of Miklós Perényi, Menahem Pressler, and Uzi Wiesel, and also from the composer György Kurtág. Varga is solo cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic, and solo appearances with this orchestra (for example Beethoven’s Triple Concerto under the direction of the deceased Giuseppe Sinopoli) are among the high points of his career. He has also appeared as soloist with all the important orchestras of Hungary. Varga also enthusiastically dedicates himself to numerous chamber music projects. As member of the Vienna Philharmonia Trio and of the Wiener Kammerensemble he appears regularly in the Vienna Konzerthaus, at the Salzburg Festival, and at other prominent venues throughout Europe. He is particularly attached to playing on original instruments. Working with the Orfeo Orchestra of Budapest he has performed, among other works, cello concertos by Haydn and Vivaldi. He has been solo cellist with the Concentus Musicus Wien under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and (1993-98) with Le Concert des Nations under Jordi Savall. Varga’s interpretations of Bach’s cello suites and of both of Brahms’ sonatas for cello and piano have been issued on CD. He passes his experience on to younger musicians through master classes in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Japan, and South Africa.

Stefan Gottfried is a harpsichordist and pianist from Vienna. He studied harpsichord, piano, composition, and musical education at the Vienna Music University, thoroughbass and historical keyboard instruments with Jesper Christensen at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland). In addition to an international concert activity on harpsichord, hammerklavier, and piano, as soloist and continuo player, in baroque ensembles and in modern orchestras (for example the Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic under conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding, and Kent Nagano), Stefan Gottfried has since 2004 regularly worked together with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, on projects such as »Le Nozze di Figaro« at the Salzburg Festival and »The Rake’s Progress« at the Theater an der Wien. Since 2000 he has taught at the Vienna Music University, where he gives lectures on various aspects of historical performance practice. Gottfried not only passionately occupies himself with the new possibilities for the harpsichord impressively presented by the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, but also with other keyboard instruments.