Gäste / Guest Artists

Jens Josef (*1967 in Solingen) received his musical training in flute and composition at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. After brief work in orchestras in Darmstadt and Frankfurt, he has been a lecturer in flute at the Louis Spohr Music Academy Kassel since 2006. Josef’s compositional oeuvre encompasses works of almost all genres. He has performed in numerous concerts as a soloist, chamber musician, and occasionally as a conductor.

Melinda Paulsen (*1964 in Indiana, USA) studied at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Daphne Evangelatos. In 1992 she received second prize at the ARD International Music Competition. Paulsen has performed at international festivals. She has sung under Roberto Abbado, Marek Janowski, and Helmuth Rilling and has appeared in concert halls such as the Wiener Musikverein, the Leipziger Gewandhaus, and the Konzerthaus Berlin. Since 2003 she has been Professor of Voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.

Shelly Ezra (*1985 in Be’er-Sheva, Israel) enjoys an outstanding reputation as a versatile soloist, passionate chamber musician, and sought-after interpreter of new and early music. She began her clarinet studies in Tel Aviv and continued them with Sabine Meyer, Reiner Wehle, and Diethelm Jonas in London, Lübeck, Weimar, Frankfurt, and Trossingen. She has won awards at several prestigious competitions, including the ARD Music Competition and the Stockhausen Prize. She has performed as a soloist with the BRSO, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Collegium Musicum Basel, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.