ENSEMBLE
Portrait Wolfram Brandl
WOLFRAM BRANDL has been the first concertmaster of the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim since 2011. Born in 1975 in Würzburg into a musical home, he studied with Uwe-Martin Haibergat the Berlin University of Arts after which he became the first violinist with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2000. He has been a member of the trio Akhenaten since 2003, the year in which he also joined Scharoun Ensemble Berlin. Many artistic impulses came from encounters with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, Thomas Adés, Matthias Pintscher, Brett Dean and Jörg Widmann. Numerous recordings document his work and have been awarded prizes such as the Echo or, most recently, the International Classical Music Award 2012.

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Portrait Rachel Schmidt
Violinist RACHEL SCHMIDT completed her musical studies with Valery Klimov at the Hochschule für Musik in Saarbrücken and with Thomas Brandis at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. The winner of numerous competitions, she received further encouragement as a scholar at the Villa Musica of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in master courses given by Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel and Isaac Stern. Rachel Schmidt joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2001 and became a member of the Scharoun Ensemble in 2010.

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Portrait Christophe Horak
Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, to Czech parents, violinist CHRISTOPHE HORAK completed his studies at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Yfrah Neaman and was the recipient of the Migros Genossenschaftsbund and the Max and Peggy Morgan Foundation scholarships. Christophe Horak was inspired and stimulated by contact with great pedagogues such as Zachar Bron, Maurizio Fuchs and Toru Yasunaga as well as encounters with the Tacas, Melos and Borodin quartets. As concertmaster of the Guildhall Symphony, he collaborated with Semyon Bychkov, Kurt Mazur, Sir Collin Davis, Pierre Boulez and Sir Simon Rattle. In 2003, following engagements witn Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra, Christophe Horak joined the Berlin Philharmonic. Since 2009, he has been leader of the second violin section.

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Portrait Micha Afkham
MICHA AFKHAM was born in Freiburg and studied the viola with Hatto Beyerle in Hanover and Tabea Zimmermann in Berlin. He rounded off his training in masterclasses given by Yuri Bashmet, Wolfram Christ, Serge Collot and Herman Krebbers. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with, among others, Leonidas Kavakos, Isabelle Faust, Tabea Zimmermann, Boris Pergamenschikow, Christian Gerhaher, András Schiff, Gidon Kremer and the Beaux Arts Trio. Micha Afkham has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2004, joining the Scharoun Ensemble as violist two years later. CD recordings have been released by RCA Sony.

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Portrait Claudio Bohórquez
Born in Germany of Peruvian-Uruguayan descent, cellist CLAUDIO BOHÓRQUEZ is one of the leading musicians in his field internationally. Being a graduate of Boris Pergamenschikow, Claudio Bohórquez has won numerous first prizes in international competitions, such as the International Music Competition in Geneva and the International Pablo Casals Cello Codmpetition at the Kronberg Academy. In addition to his soloist- and chamber music activities, he is also in demand as a professor. Bohorquez has been teaching at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart from 2011 to 2016 and since September 2016 he is professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. CD recordings by Bohorquez have been released by EMI, Deutsche Grammophon and BerlinClassics. Claudio Bohórquez plays a violoncello by G. B. Rogeri, which is provided to him by Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg.

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Portrait Peter Riegelbauer
PETER RIEGELBAUER was born in the Middle Franconia region of Bavaria, near Nuremberg, where he studied with Georg Hörtnagel, continuing in Berlin with Rainer Zepperitz. Before joining the ranks of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1981, he was a scholar in the orchestra’s Academy. In 1983 he and seven Philharmonic colleagues founded the Scharoun Ensemble.

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Portrait Alexander Bader
ALEXANDER BADER studied the clarinet with Manfred Preis and Peter Rieckhoff in Berlin. In 1990 he became a member of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie of Bremen, moving in 2002 to Berlin’s Komische Oper. Bader, who also devotes himself to historical performance practice on original instruments and appears regularly with such ensembles as the Vienna Concentus Musicus, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble and Berlin’s Akademie für Alte Musik, has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Scharoun Ensemble since 2006.

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Portrait Markus Weidmann
MARKUS WEIDMANN studied the bassoon with Klaus Thunemann in Hanover. From 1993 to 1995 he was a scholar of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Orchestra Academy. Before becoming a member of the orchestra in 1997, he played in numerous ensembles, including the European Union Youth Orchestra, Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra and Southwest German Philharmonie of Konstanz. Weidmann has been a member of the Scharoun Ensemble since 2006.

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Portrait Stefan de Leval Jezierski
Born in Boston, STEFAN DE LEVAL JEZIERSKI studied the horn at the North Carolina School of the Arts and with Myron Bloom at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 1976 he became principal horn of the Kassel Staatstheater, two years later joining the Berlin Philharmonic. Along with numerous solo engagements, he teaches in the Philharmonic’s Orchestra Academy and as an honorary professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 1983 Jezierski became one of the founding members of the Scharoun Ensemble.

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