Renato Penêda was born in Porto, Portugal in 1990 and began his musical studies at the Porto Conservatory of Music at the age of 14, in the class of Jacob Oliveira and Emília Gonçalves. Later, he studied with Jean-François Lézé (Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música) and was admitted in ESMAE - Higher School of Music and Performing Arts (Porto), where he worked with Miquel Bernat, Manuel Campos, Rui Sul Gomes, Fernando Llopis and Nuno Aroso. He went on to study at Codarts Rotterdam (Netherlands) - with Chris Leenders, Hans Leenders, Tatiana Koleva, René Spierings and Murk Jiskoot -, where he concluded his Bachelor's degree in 2015.
 
He has attended several master classes and workshops with renowned percussionists such as Nick Woud, Frank Epstein, Benoît Cambreling, Bogdan Bacanu, Mark Ford, Kuniko Kato, Markus Leoson, Tatiana Koleva, Bruno Costa and Jeffery Davis.
 
He is a member of Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa (Porto) and Orquestra XXI (composed of Portuguese musicians working and/or studying abroad). He collaborates regularly with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and occasionally with the Porto Symphony Orchestra Casa da Música, the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon, Portugal), the AKOM Ensemble (Rotterdam) and the Camerata Rotterdam.
 
Other past collaborations include the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland), the Residentie Orkest (The Hague, Netherlands) the percussion group Slagwerk Den Haag (The Hague), Tatiana Koleva's Youth Percussion Pool (Netherlands) and several other Portuguese orchestras and ensembles, such as the Portuguese national youth orchestra Momentum Perpetuum, with whom he served as Principal Percussionist in its final years.
 
Renato is a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester since 2015 and of the NJO (Dutch National Youth Orchestra) since 2013. He took part in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Codarts Academy from 2013 to 2015. In the 2012/2013 season, he was a member of the OJSG - Sinfónica de Galicia's Youth Orchestra (A Coruña, Spain).
 
Furthermore, Renato is a founding member of Pulsat Percussion Group, a contemporary percussion ensemble that reached the Semi-Finals of the 2015 International Percussion Competition in Luxembourg. The group's awards include the 2nd prize in Prémio Jovens Músicos 2012, chamber music category – superior level (Portugal) and the 2nd prize in CIMCA 2013 - 3rd International Chamber Music Competition "Cidade de Alcobaça" (Portugal).
 
His professional life has already taken him to concert halls in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Brazil and China.
 
Aside from his musical curriculum, Renato holds a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto.

Yves Popow is a Luxembourgish percussionist who is currently based in The Netherlands. After receiving his final diploma in classical percussion at the Conservatorium of Luxembourg in 2010, he continued his studies under the guidance of Tatiana Koleva, Chris Leenders, and Hans Leenders at Codarts Conservatory, Rotterdam, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 2013. Currently, Yves is completing a Master of Music at Codarts with a research focus of Tango arrangements for marimba with Gustavo Beytelmann. To augment his studies, he also receives lessons in a variety of percussion fields including African percussion with Murk Jiskoot, Latin percussion with Nils Fischer and Brazilian percussion with Maxim Zettel.
As an active musician outside of his studies, Yves performs across Europe and America with many ensembles including the Diffwinds Orchestra, the Luxembourg Studio Orchestra, the Akom Ensemble, Slagwerk Den Haag, the Residence Orchestra, and the Sofia Soloists. He has had the pleasure of performing in a wide range of venues and events including the opening of the Philharmonic hall in Luxembourg-city, Sounds of Music Festival in Groningen, Festival, the Tromp Percussion Competition, the Peter de Grote Festival, the March Music Days in Rouse and Percussion Extravaganza – Rituals in Varna, both in Bulgaria, and also at various percussion academies, including the Nancy Zeltsman Marimba Festival, the International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy and various Youth Percussion Pool editions in Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Yves has worked with many top percussionists and composers, including Colin Currie, Katarzyna Mycka, Emmanuel Séjourné, Randy Max, Peter Klatzow and Anders Koppel.
Currently, Yves is percussionist of the recently founded Akom ensemble. Moreover he is part of different projects among the Luxemburgian percussion quartet 4Given Rhythms, and Beneath the blanket, an improvised collaboration with the Danish musician Nikolaj de Haan.




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