Christian Haimel was born in 1981 and lives in the city of Linz, Austria.
At the age of six he started taking guitar and solfeggio lessons with Josef Waidhofer at the music school in Perg, Upper Austria. 2007, he graduated with distinction ("Konzertfach" – performance diploma) with Prof. Marianne Waidhofer at Anton Bruckner Private University, Linz.

In addition to these studies, Christian has attended a large number of master classes with internationally renowned guitarists and professors.

He works hard to enhance his musical development with voice and breathing technique training.

Born in Los Angeles, Gregory Newton began study of the guitar with Vahdah Olcott Bickford and attended the University of Southern California School of Music on scholarship, where he studied with Pepe Romero and from which he received B.M. and M.M. degrees with honors. His background also includes work with John Duarte in England, José Tomás in Spain, Alirio Diaz in Canada, classes with Andrés Segovia, flamenco studies with Luis Maravilla and jazz studies with Laurindo Almeida and Lee Ritenour. He recently completed a doctoral degree under the direction of Dr. Peter Yates at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He has given concerts and masterclasses throughout Great Britain, the USA, Canada, South America, the Middle East, Scandinavia, and Western and Eastern Europe.

Avril Kinsey was born in England in 1955. A year later her parents immigrated to Cape Town, South Africa. She began classical guitar lessons with her father in 1966.

Later she studied the guitar under Uliano Marchio, while also studying piano, voice, drama and dancing at Bergvliet High School, where she matriculated in 1974. After completing a Teachers Licentiate Diploma in guitar and piano at the University of Cape Town in 1978, Kinsey was awarded a scholarship to further her classical guitar studies in Spain at the Universitario Internacional de Musica Espanola with Jose Tomas (a former student of Andres Segovia), where she obtained a Performer’s Diploma in 1979. She completed guitar master classes with Ernesto Bitetti, Carlos Bonell, Narciso Yepes, and later in the USA with Christopher Parkening (another Segovia student).

Verso Duo
Matthijs Koene – Panflute,  Stefan Gerritsen - Guitar

Verso was formed in 1997; its two members are panflute player Matthijs Koene and guitarist Stefan Gerritsen. The duo was named after the work Verso, which was written for them by the American-Dutch composer Ron Ford.

Passionately and with a sense of style the duo performs classical music, as well as contemporary repertoire. Appreciation for the duo is not only expressed by the audience, but is also demonstrated by the commendations of juries at international contests and the many prizes that the duo has won:
- Vriendenkrans and Concertgebouwprijs (Amsterdam 2003) - Comradio contemporary music prize ( Barcelona 2003) - Places in the finals of “The CAG music competition” (New York 2005 and 2006) - IBLA Grand Prize Top Winner Award and Piazzolla Award (Italy 2006).

One of the most important goals of Verso is the creation of distinguished repertoire for panflute and guitar. So far more than 40 works have been written for this special combination. The outstanding expression of the instruments is put to use in a very broad range of styles, from Dowland, Giuliani and Piazzolla, to the newest music by Theo Loevendie, Artyum Kim, Daan Manneke, Gerard Beljon, and Louis Aguirre among others. In their programmes, the music especially written for Verso is placed next to classical compositions, which sound surprisingly authentic.