Käthe Volkart-Schlager (1897-1976) was an Austrian composer, pianist and music teacher. Born in Wien, she studied and later taught for many years at the Music University of Stuttgart. She composed mainly miniatures for piano but also many art songs (Lieder).
The remarkable versatility of Sarah Wegener (soprano) has ensured long-standing collaborations with many musical partners, including the conductors Kent Nagano, Emilio Pomàrico, Peter Rundel, Tonu Kaljuste, Heinz Holliger, and Frieder Bernius. Concerts and recitals have taken her to the Salzburg Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Ruhrtriennale, and Handel Festival Halle, as well as the Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich, Vienna Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie, Royal Festival Hall London, and the Bozar in Brussels. She has sung leading roles at the Royal Opera House in London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Theater Bonn, Staatstheater Saarbrücken, and Tongyeong Festival in South Korea.
Cornelis Witthoefft is a pianist, accompanist and vocal coach, appointed professor of Lied (Art Song) at the Music University of Stuttgart since 2004. He has worked at major opera houses in Europe such as the Opéra de la Bastille, the Flemish Opera, Antwerp, the Teatro di San Carlo, the Teatro Massimo  and the Salzburg Festival as well as the New National Theatre Tokyo. He has also appeared as a solo pianist, chamber musician and accompanist, (with a repertoire of some fifty song recital programs), in Europe and overseas including Japan where he also held master classes on German lieder.