The Palmeira Quartet was formed in 2011 by four enthusiastic local players; they gave their first concert at Chichester's "Music on Sundays" the following November. Since then they have performed the Mendelssohn Octet with the Chilingirian Quartet at the Bishopsgate Institute in London.
Anna Ruijterman was awarded the Dame Ruth Railton Chamber Music Prize while a junior student at the Royal Academy of Music, played violin in the National Youth Orchestra and led the West Sussex Youth Orchestra. She is now a practice nurse in Felpham.
Chris Darwin is an Emeritus Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. He played violin in the NYO and then pursued an academic career, specialising in how the brain processes sound.
Paul Manderson read music at Holloway College in London, played viola in the Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Emilia-Romagna in Italy, and frequently leads the viola section of the Sussex Symphony Orchestra.
Howard Gough led the cellos of the NYO, Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra and the Chelsea Opera Group; he was also a choral scholar at Cambridge and conductor of the Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra. After pursuing a career in industry he became General Manager of the Monteverdi Choir and served on the board of the NYO.