The international string sextet giving two concerts in Malaga

Ensemble Urania is formed of an international group of musicians who live in Granada and Malaga provinces and all but one play for the Ciudad de Granada orchestra. One member of the ensemble, cellist Tilman Mahrenholz, plays with the Malaga philharmonic orchestra.

Together the ensemble give smaller concerts around the two provinces and tomorrow, Saturday 10 January, they are performing at El Molino de Cajiz. They will then give the same concert at the Sala María Cristina concert hall in Malaga city on Tuesday 13 January.

Atsuko Neriishi and Peter Biely play violins; Almudena García Sánchez and Johan Rondón play violas; and Arnaud Dupont and Tilman both play the cello.

Peter is from Slovakia, Atsuko from Japan, Johan from Venezuela, Almudena from Spain, Arnaud is from France and Tilman is German.

Tilman and Peter have both been in Andalucía for 25 years and it was Tilman who founded Ensemble Urania in 2010. He explained to SUR in English that everyone came here "in search of a work post" in an orchestra and they all met "in the orchestras of Malaga and Granada and making chamber music".

The programme for both concerts includes pieces for strings by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Alexander Borodin and the Molino de Cajiz concerts starts at 7.30pm (doors open at 6.30pm). The Sala María Cristina concert starts at 7.30pm.