WinterFest Artists (All) | Romsey Chamber Music

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WinterFest Artists

2026

This year's WinterFest welcomes the Goethe Quartet together with members of our Young Artists Programme.

Young Artists 2025/26

- Florens String Quartet

- William Harris (cello)

- Emme Hensel

- Joanna Lam (piano)

- Sofia Sacco (piano)

Read more about our Young Artist Programme

Praised for their “playing of such passion and authority” (Classical Source, 2023), the Goethe String Quartet is quickly emerging as one of Europe’s most exciting string quartets. The quartet is comprised of Luke Hsu and Laura Rickard, violins; Marthe Husum, viola; and Rainer Crosett, cello. The GSQ has appeared at festivals in the UK, US, and Europe over the past several years, performing a wide range of works from Haydn to Berg and contemporary music. Most recently, they were Artists-in-Residence at Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont (US), focusing on Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 132 and three commissioned works written for them by celebrated composers Eun Young Lee, William Cooper, and Reinaldo Moya. Their 2025 American tour included debut performances at Yellow Barn and in the Boston area, at the Wayland Concert Series and Wellesley Chamber Music. A highlight of their 2025 summer will be their debut at Presteigne Festival (Wales) and their return to the Romsey Chamber Music Festival.

The quartet has also appeared at the HearAndNow Festival Amsterdam 2024, performing Berg Op. 3 live on the Netherlands’ NTR Radio 4, and in the Bartok Salon Amsterdam 2023 performing Bartok String Quartet No. 3. They have collaborated with artists such as Donald Weilerstein, Doric String Quartet, Kim Kashkashian, Laurence Lesser, Parker String Quartet, Miro Quartet, Levon Chilingirian, Anthony Marwood, Roger Tapping, Gunther Pichler, and Paul Katz. Individually, they have also received international recognition and prizes such as: Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition 2019 (Laureate), Pierre Fournier Award 2018 (Winner), Isaacs and Pirini Competition (First Prize), Verão Clássico Chamber Music Competition (First Prize), and Associateships of the Royal Academy of Music.

Goethe String Quartet

American cellist Rainer Crosett has appeared as a soloist on major stages throughout the United States and Europe and has performed in many renowned chamber music festivals. He came to international attention as the recipient of the 2018 Pierre Fournier Award in London, and has also been honored with the Silver Medal at the 2017 Ima Hogg Competition in Houston, Texas, resulting in a debut with the Houston Symphony. Highlights of recent seasons include his Wigmore Hall recital debut and an upcoming debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London.

As a chamber musician, Rainer has performed at festivals including Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, the Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival, Prussia Cove, La Jolla SummerFest, and the Perlman Music Program's Chamber Music Workshop.

He began his studies in the Harvard-New England Conservatory Joint Program, through which he received his M.M. from New England Conservatory and his A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and was named a John Harvard Scholar. He was also the recipient of Harvard’s Lucy Allen Paton Prize for excellence in the humanities and fine arts and an Artist Development Fellowship.

Rainer received his Artist Diploma from the University of Southern California and he is now continuing his graduate studies at the Berlin University of the Arts with Jens Peter Maintz. His other principal teachers and mentors have included Ralph Kirshbaum and Paul Katz.

Rainer Crosett

Cello

Hailed as “in a class by himself with total command of the instrument” (Montreal Gazette), offering “genius interpretations” (Le Soir, Brussels) with “no-holds-barred gusto” (IndyStar), Luke Hsu is sought after around the world as a violinist and composer. Born in Shanghai, raised in Houston, and currently living in Berlin, Luke’s artistic philosophy eschews borders. Believing in the power of art to transcend the boundaries of one’s lived experience, he draws on his passions for history, culture, and folk music in crafting his interpretations, and champions music of our time as enthusiastically as that of the past. His compositions, like his performances, are a testament to his diverse artistic influences.

Luke has appeared as a soloist at Wigmore Hall, Windsor Castle, Kennedy Center, Herkulessaal, Philharmonie Berlin, BOZAR, and many others. He has soloed with numerous renowned orchestras, most recently with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sudeten Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, and the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, and worked closely with eminent conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Pascal Vierrot, Nikolaj Znaider, Hugh Wolff, Cristian Macelaru and Jean-Jacques Kantarow. He has also played for royalty around the world including His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium.

A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth competition, Luke has won prizes at many of the most prestigious violin competitions in the world. He won the Bronze Medal, the Bach Prize, and the Mozart Sonata Prize at the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the 1st prize at the ISANGYUN Competition. Luke has been consistently lauded for his interpretations of Mozart, receiving another special prize for them at the Wieniawski. His other major prizes have come from the Nielsen, Wieniawski, Michael Hill, and Paganini competitions.

Luke Hsu

Violin

Marthe Grimsrud Husum began to play the violin at Horten Music School at age seven and has loved music ever since. But it was not until her encounter with the viola and prof. Morten Carlsen that she really began to pursue music in earnest. She was accepted into the Norwegian Academy of Music’s program for talented young musicians, with Carlsen as her teacher, then continued there as a Bachelor’s student, during which time she also studied with Walter Küsser at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She completed a Master’s degree with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, then a diploma in solo performance with Lars Anders Tomter at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

Chamber and orchestral music has always been Marthe’s passion, and the ensembles and orchestras with which she has appeared include Ensemble Allegria, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra among others. She is currently leading the viola section in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. She also plays in Atem String Quartet and Trio Maj. Other project-based chamber music partners have included Ana Chumachenko, Amalie Stalheim, Borromeo String Quartet, Oslo String Quartet, Esher String Quartet and Parker Quartet.

With Marthe’s keen appreciation of nature, some highlights have been projects that have taken her to exceedingly beautiful places, such as Prussia Cove in Cornwall, Banff National Park in Canada, Verbier in Switzerland, as well as Vesterålen and Hardanger in Norway. The encounter with committed musicians in such unique natural surroundings that leads to inspiring and moving music.

Marthe Husum

Viola

Acclaimed British violinist Laura Rickard is crafting a multifaceted international career as a highly sought-after chamber musician and soloist, festival director, and passionate teacher. In demand as a concerto soloist, she regularly appears with orchestras across the UK, with recent performances at Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room. She has been featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, and NBC, and was also recently elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of her remarkable contributions to the field.

As a founding member of the Mila Piano Trio, Laura has performed on many of the world’s renowned stages. Recent successes include winning first prize at Verao Classico, debuts at St Martin-in-the-Fields and St. John's Smith Square, and appearing at many of the UK's leading festivals. As a chamber musician and orchestral principal, Laura is regularly invited to play at festivals including Winchester, Montesinho (Portugal), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Atlantic (USA) and Presteigne.

A keen proponent of contemporary music, Laura has commissioned and premiered works by some of the leading composers of her generation. Recent premieres include Robert Peate’s Concerto for Violin and Double Orchestra and Cydonie Banting’s Alpha for solo violin.

Laura is the founder and Artistic Director of the Romsey Chamber Music Festival, one of the UK’s leading festivals of its kind, which brings world-class artists to her hometown each Spring, featuring an imaginatively curated and diverse programme of chamber music. Praised by Classical Source as "a little gem" and by Seen and Heard International as "remarkable", the festival’s activities continue throughout the year. It has an ambitious education programme which has reached over 3000 children in Hampshire which covers first access in primary schools, coaching young musicians, side-by-side projects and masterclasses. Other activities include regular residencies and concerts, and commissions of new works by composers. "The atmosphere of camaraderie and joie de vivre has characterized the festival since its inception in 2018" - The Hampshire Chronicle.

Laura studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, where her teachers included Erich Gruenberg, Remus Azoitei, Alex Redington. Her studies were generously funded by the Academy and the Craxton Memorial Trust, she was awarded a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and the Doris Faulkner Prize for her studentship. She was then appointed as Meaker Fellow in Violin and now continues teaching violin and chamber music at the Academy and King’s College London.

Laura Rickard

Artistic Director and Violin

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