Charley - Violin

Charlotte Beresford studied violin at Birmingham Conservatoire with Rimma Sushanskaya. She has a busy career as a free-lance violinist touring with and playing lead violin for artists such as Alfie Boe, Alison Balsom, Il Divo, Michael Ball, Sheridan Smith, Russell Watson, Aled Jones, Collabro, Katherine Jenkins, Gloria Estefan, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra Jnr, Steve Hackett, Led Zeppelin Masters, Star Sailor and Richard Hawley. She also works for many different orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Northern Ballet, OdaC, English Pro Musica and Southern Sinfonia, as well as touring West End shows such as Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and The Sound of Music. She is the administrator for The Virtuoso Violin (a violin festival held in Stratford-upon-Avon every summer) and teaches violin/viola privately and in schools.

Ursula - Cello

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Ursula Miethe began her cello studies at the CaraboboConservatory, in Valencia. She was a member of the Carabobo Youth Orchestra, Carabobo Symphony Orchestra and Central Region of Venezuela’s Youth Orchestra under the baton ofGustavo Dudamel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance from Louisiana State University. During her stay in the United States, Ursula joined the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana State University Symphony Orchestra, Gulf Coast Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, and the USM Symphony Orchestra performing with renowned artists such as Placido Domingo, James Galway and Joshua Bell. Ursula won first prize in the Mississippi Music Teachers Association competition in the spring of 2008 and the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber Music competition with her string quartet in 2016. Ursula holds a master’s degree in Cello Performance and a postgraduate diploma in Orchestral Performance from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is currently part of the Kidderminster Festival Orchestra.

Maxine - Cello

Maxine started playing the cello at the age of six. She won a County Scholarship at the age of ten and received an ABRSM Gold Award, for the highest mark in the country for her Grade 8, at the age of seventeen. As a teenager Maxine learnt with Florence Hooton MBE and she went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London, learning with Michael Evans and Joan Dickson. Whilst at the RCM she gained first prize in the Ireland Chamber Music Prize and had several masterclasses with William Pleeth.

During her freelance career, Maxine has played for the Queen at Claridges Hotel in London, and has played alongside Mstislav Rostropovich, Jose Carreras, Hayley Westenra and ‘All Angels’. She has also toured with Castleward Opera in Northern Ireland, played with the Ulster Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva and in the West End musical “CATS” in Zurich. She now works as a freelance player, teacher, sectional and ensemble coach in the Midlands and across the UK.