Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen
Monika Malmquist (violin) studies in the soloist class with professor Serguei Azizian at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
Ida Nørholm (cello) has studied with Kim Bak Dinitzen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where she achieved the diploma degree in December 2005.
Christine Raft (piano) studies with Associate Professor Bohumila Jedlicova at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. She expects to obtain her diploma degree in the summer of 2006.
Trio Ismena was formed in the summer of 2004, promoted by Professor Tim Fredriksen from whom the trio also receives regular training. The collaboration has resulted in the highest marks in the chamber music exam at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2004 and in the second price in the Chamber Music competition in 2005. They were also prizewinners in the P2 Chamber Music competition in February 2006.
Trio Ismena has participated in masterclasses with the Tokyo Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, Professor Gerhard Schulz of the Alban Berg Quartet, Ursula Schulz, and Professor Pavel Eliassshevich, and has also been taught by Professor Serguei Azizian, Associate Professor Bohumilla Jedlicova and Niklas Sivelöv.
The Trio has given concerts at the Natmands Society, the Hirschsprung Gallery, Det Danske Hus in Paris, at the Pulsar Festival of New Music, at the Copenhagen Summer Festival at Charlottenborg, at the Bornholm Music Festival and at the Zeist Music Festival in the Netherlands.
Later in 2006, the Trio will participate in the Fredriksværk Music Festival and the Bornhølm Music Festival and they will also perform at Hellerup Chamber Music Society, Birkerød Chamber Music Society and the Natmands Society.
The Trio Ismena, which receives regular tuition from Shmuel Ashkenasi, Professor at the Academy of Lubeck, has recently been admitted to Basel Conservatoire, Switzerland, to study on the Konzert Diploma Chamber Music course.