Irene Schwalb was born 1965 in Bonn, studied Viola in Düsseldorf with Jürgen Kussmaul and chamber music, amongst others, with the Alban Berg Quartett und Walter Levin. 1988 she founded the Minguet Quartet, and was a member and its manager until 2007. International concerto engagements and premieres of new works. In the spring of 2008 she opened Konzertkontor- Schwalb for professional Chamber Music Ensembles.

Katherina Knees at first studied d-bass at the Music Academy in Cologne, then History of Art and Musicology at the Universities of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Since 2007 she works as a freelance author and contributes Features und articles for a number of public owned TV and radio broadcasting stations. Since 2010 she works with Irene Schwalb for the Konzertkontor in the centre of Köln-Nippes.