Momoko Aritomi was born in Japan and received her first instruction on violin and piano at the age of four. After graduating from the Tokyo University of Arts, she continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. She is a prize winner at a number of international competitions. She was a finalist at the Viennese International Competition of Classical Strings (concerto performance with the Slovakian Radio Symphony Orchestra) and received second place and the special prize of the Romanian Embassy at the Romanian International Music Competition, as well as second place at the International Johannes Brahms Competition. She also took part in the Vienna Philharmonic Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy.

Annette Jakovcic, a cellist originally from Englewood, New Jersey, enjoys a diverse career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. She entered the Academy in the Fall of 2022. Since 2021, she has been a substitute cellist for the Vienna State Opera while studying for her Master’s Degree at Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. She previously studied at Columbus State University and The New England Conservatory in Boston. She has played as a solo and chamber musician in the U.S., Europe and Asia. A third-generation musician in her family, she plays on a 1742 Andrea Castagneri cello from Paris that was her grandfather’s.

Austrian violinist David Kessler graduated from the Feldkirch Music High School and then attended the College of Music in Trossingen. Before entering the Academy, he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He has won several first prizes and special prizes for "impressive virtuosity combined with sensitive musicianship". Among these have been the special prize of ESTA Austria, the Bärenreiter Prize as a soloist and chamber musician at Prima la musica Austria and the special prize from Jugend musiziert in Switzerland. As the youngest participant he received the first prize at the Luigi Nono International Chamber Music Competition in Turin in 2017. David Kessler has obtained orchestral experience as a member of the International Orchestra Institute Attergau (IOIA) and the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Academy in Salzburg.

David won an audition to join the Vienna State Opera / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2024

Julian Ritsch, from Innsbruck, Austria received his first trumpet lessons at the age of seven. During high school -he studied at the Tyrolian State Conservatory. In October 2019 he moved to the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he has since been studying with Univ.-Prof. Johann Plank. He gained his first orchestral experience as a member of Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra and the European Union Youth Orchestra and as a substitute with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Vienna Volksoper.

Julian has joined the Bruckner Orchestra, Landestheatre Linz

Moritz Schulte, born in Braunschweig (DE) in 1998, began playing the flute at the age of 10. After various prizes at national youth competitions, he began his flute studies with Prof. Angela Firkins at the Lübeck University of Music in 2016 and switched to his current professor Erwin Klambauer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2020. Moritz Schulte gained professional experience with orchestras such as the “Ensemble Resonanz”, the “Hofkapelle Meiningen”, the Concert Verein Wien and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Moritze has joined the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, Germany