Julian Arp was born in 1981 in northern Germany into a big family of musicians. He began to study at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin and learned from Jens Peter Maintz, Boris Pergamenschikow, David Geringas and Eberhard Feltz.
As a soloist and chamber musician, he performs worldwide, playing at venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, and the Berlin Philharmonie.
For over twenty years he has formed the duo Arp/Frantz with the pianist Caspar Frantz. Together they have won a number of prestigious competitions, including the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition, the German Music Competition and the International Chamber Music Competition „Premio Vittorio Gui“ in Florence.
Julian Arp is dedicated to a broad repertoire and is increasingly involved in the performance and creation of new music. Composers such as Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Sven-Ingo Koch, Sarah Nemtsov and Violeta Dinescu have written works for him.
Since autumn 2013 Julian Arp has held a professorship for violoncello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and is also a sought-after lecturer at international master classes.
Maighréad McCrann has been 1. Concertmaster of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1993. In 1997 she was appointed Professor of violin at the University of Performing Arts in Graz. During this time she has also enjoyed a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician and directing chamber orchestras from the violin. Her passion for teaching has resulted in many master classes and intense coaching with the youth orchestras of Spain, Catalunya, Columbia, the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute in Washington.
Born in Dublin where she studied with Brian McNamara, she graduated from Trinity College of music in 1984 and commenced studying in Vienna with Ernst Kovacic. Further violin lessons with Sándor Végh and David Takeno. She was a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and played baroque violin with Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus.
In 2020 she was appointed to the board of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra and became a member of the advisory committee of the Austrian National Bank for the allocation of valuable instruments.
She is artistic director of the Neuberg Masterclasses in Austria.
Gerald Preinfalk hails from Zulissen near Freistadt in Upper Austria. Music became his true calling in 1990 when he began studying classical saxophone at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Oto Vrhovnik and jazz with Wolfgang Puschnig. A scholarship took him to Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA) and to Paris.
Since 2000, Preinfalk has been a member of Klangforum Wien. He has performed as a guest musician with orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rhineland-Palatinate State Philharmonic, the Stuttgart State Orchestra, and various contemporary music ensembles in the Vienna area.
As a sideman in the jazz genre, he played with various big bands such as Nouvelle Cousine and the Vienna Art Orchestra, as well as in ensembles with such luminaries as Don Byron (NYC), Django Bates (GB), George Garzone (NYC), Elliot Sharp (NYC), Terry Bozzio (USA, Frank Zappa’s drummer), Savina Yannatou (GR), Lucia Pulido (CO), Alegre Corrêa (BR), and Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel (A).
As a composer of theater music, he wrote soundtracks for „Peer Gynt,“ „Job,“ and „You Will Stay With Me“—all directed by Michael Sturminger for the Vienna Volkstheater. Also noteworthy is his musical collaboration with Burgtheater actors such as Nicole Heesters, Martin Schwab, Petra Morzé, and Christoph Krutzler. In the commercial sphere, he has also worked with opera singer Elisabeth Kulmann on the project „La femme c’est moi“ and with national stars such as Willi Resetarits, Tini Kainrath, and Maria Bill (Bill sings Jacques Brel; Bill sings Bill).
Since 2012, Gerald Preinfalk has been a university professor of classical saxophone at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. He has given masterclasses in Strasbourg, Wrocław (Poland), Szczecinek (Poland), Tokushima (Japan), and Tianjin (China).
„Atemberaubend präzis, scharf und schneidend
Intoniert da das Simply Quartet. […] was für eine
Wandlungsfähigkeit zeigt dieses Ensemble!“
…according to the review by SWR Kultur of the quartet’s debut album, released in spring 2025 on Genuin and featuring Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 Op. 80 and Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 13 Op. 106. The recording has been praised in the highest terms by the international press.
Their enormous stylistic range extends from works of the early Classical period to the latest compositions by living artists. Always in search of the greatest possible fidelity to the score, the four musicians immerse themselves in meticulous score study, approaching the text with deep curiosity.
The quartet’s current formation took shape during their joint studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where they worked closely with their most important mentor, Johannes Meissl. The ensemble was originally founded in Shanghai, where Jensen Horn-Sin Lam supported the quartet from the very beginning. Other important mentors include Hatto Beyerle and Patrick Jüdt (European Chamber Music Academy/ECMA), as well as Günter Pichler and Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet). In January 2026, Sueye Park took over the position previously held by Danfeng Shen, continuing the ensemble’s artistic direction.
The quartet has been awarded four first prizes at renowned chamber music competitions: the Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition (2019), Quatuor à Bordeaux (2019), the International Competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Music” (2018), and the 7th International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition (2017).
In the 2021/22 season, the Simply Quartet was selected for the ECHO Rising Stars series, which led to debuts in Europe’s most important concert halls. The quartet is now a regular guest at venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie, BOZAR Brussels, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as at renowned festivals such as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg.
Beginning with the 2025/26 season, the Simply Quartet will share its own concert cycle, titled “string.”, with the Leonkoro Quartet at the Vienna Konzerthaus, continuing the venue’s long tradition of outstanding string quartet series.
Further engagements include performances at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Molière in Lyon, Amici della Musica in Florence, and the Mozarteum Salzburg.
First violinist Sueye Park plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (Milan, 1753), kindly provided by the Samsung Foundation of Culture.
Antonia Rankersberger plays a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (“ex Beare – ex Tetzlaff”, Turin, 1776), on loan from the Austrian National Bank.
Xiang Lyu plays a viola by Edgar Russ (2010).
Ivan Valentin Hollup Roald performs on a cello by Giovanni Battista Ceruti (1801), generously provided by a private donor.
