Sebastian Krunnies was only four when he had his first viola lessons. After studying music and medicine in Freiburg, he continued his music studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum and Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule. Before coming to the Berliner Philharmoniker, he gained his first orchestral experience in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra and in the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Sebastian Krunnies is a member of the string trio Echnaton.

His parents were professional musicians and made music at home a great deal. Ludwig Quandt was six when he got to know Schubert’s Trout Quintet and, along with it, the double bass. That string instrument so delighted him that he started out by playing the next smaller one, the cello – and then stayed with it. Ludwig Quandt studied at the University of Music Lübeck under Arthur Troester, first principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 1935-1945, whose final student he was almost 50 years later. In 1985 he earned his diploma and in 1987 passed his graduate exam with distinction.

During and following his studies he attended master classes with Boris Pergamenschikow, Zara Nelsova, Maurice Gendron, Wolfgang Boettcher and Siegfried Palm. Twice he was selected for the nationwide German Young Artists Concerts. Quandt, Prizewinner at the ARD International Music Competition, played for two years in the Berliner Philharmoniker before becoming the orchestra’s principal cellist. He also appears internationally as a soloist and chamber-music player and is a member of various Philharmonic ensembles. Ludwig Quandt’s other interests include astronomy and dragonflies, and he loves country walking, cycling and kayaking; but most of his free time he spends with his children. He plays a 1675 cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, which has been on loan to him from Deutsche Bank since 1993.

Prizewinner in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Brahms Competition in Hamburg and the Premio Stradivari in Cremona

As a child Matthew McDonald was actually interested in playing only jazz and rock music. His parents gave him an electric bass for Christmas – but only under the condition that he would also learn to play the double bass. Matthew quickly fell in love with the big instrument’s dark, mellow sound. In 1996 he began his studies with Max McBride at the Canberra School of Music, later continuing with Kees Boersma in Sydney, where he completed his bachelor’s (BMus) degree in 2000. From 2000 to 2001 he was a scholar of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy, and then was immediately engaged as deputy principal bass of the Danish National Orchestra.

He relinquished that position in order to prepare for his concert exam with Esko Laine at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. Engagements followed as principal bass with the Ensemble Modern (2003-06) and with Berlin’s Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester before he came to the Berliner Philharmoniker. As a chamber player, Matthew McDonald is a regular visitor to the Open Chamber Music seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall. He devotes his free time to his family, first and foremost, and also enjoys reading and going to the cinema.

Considering it his life-long pursuit, Noah Bendix-Balgley has a personal sound that connects with his audience in a meaningful way. Whether he’s leading the Berlin Philharmonic as First Concertmaster, performing chamber music or in front of the orchestra as soloist, Noah’s gift of communication through music has reached listeners all around the world.

Learn more at noahbendixbalgley.com

He already played the piano, organ and harpsichord but also wanted to learn a wind instrument. The choice was between flute and horn. His grandmother, sponsor of his musical activities, placed a flute for her grandson under the Christmas tree because she was more familiar with the sound of this instrument. Thus, Michael Hasel became a pupil first of Herbert Grimm and Willi Schmidt and later – during his studies at the Freiburg Musikhochschule – of Aurèle Nicolet. His first engagement came in 1982, as principal piccolo in the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Two years later he became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Michael Hasel is also principal flute of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. In 1988 he and four colleagues founded the Philharmonic Wind Quintet, which has given concerts all over the world and recorded numerous CDs. Moreover, Hasel works as teacher and conductor: From 1994 to 1998 he held a professorship for wind ensemble and chamber music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim and teaches at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy. As a conductor he has worked together with the Ensemble Modern, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the Scharoun Ensemble, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the Gustav Mahler Orchestra and the Orchestra Simón Bolívar in Europe, South America and Japan. He loves reading, going to the theatre, golf, cooking, eating and good wine.

Václav Vonášek actually wanted to be a clarinetist. But at the conservatory in Pilsen, there were too few bassoonists, so he chose the deep-toned woodwind instrument. Since then, he has been thrilled every day by its sound. He discovered his love for the contrabassoon, the deepest-sounding instrument of the orchestra. After studying in Pilsen, he continued his studies under František Herman and Jiří Seidl at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and under Andrea DeFlammineis and Martin Gatt at the Royal College of Music in London. He also attended master classes given by Dag Jensen, Klaus Thunemann and Gábor Janota. In 2011, Václav Vonášek was awarded his doctorate for his thesis on works for unaccompanied bassoon and characteristics of their performance.

A winner of numerous competitions, including the ARD International Music Competition and the Prague Spring International Music Festival, he gained his first orchestral experience in the theatre orchestra in Pilsen and the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, and as a substitute with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and the Solistes Européens Luxembourg. Following positions as first bassoonist with the Prague Philharmonia and as second bassoonist and contrabassoonist with the Czech Philharmonic, he joined the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 2016.

Václav Vonášek is a member of the Arundo Quartet and the PhilHarmonia Octet, with whom he – among other things – has premiered and recorded his own arrangements (Bach, Dvořák, Mahler). When the bassoonist is not dedicating himself to music or building reeds for his instrument, he likes to go hiking and – together with his children – go on digital scavenger hunts (geocaching). He is also a keen inline skater and crown cork collector.

1st Prize of the International Competition “Prague Spring” (2009), 3rd Prize of the ARD International Music Competition, Munich (2008), 3rd Prize of the Internationalen Instrumentalwettbewerb Markneukirchen (2006), (2005), 1st Prize of the International competition for Oboe and Bassoon in Lodz, Poland (2005), 1st Prize of the Competion of the International Double Reed Society in Melbourne

Andre Schoch has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2017. From 2014 to 2017 he was principal trumpet at the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg. Before that, engagements as principal trumpet took him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. As soloist, Schoch has performed with the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg conducted by Kent Nagano, the Polish Kammerphilharmonie as part of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Berliner Barock Solisten.

Alongside his orchestral engagements Andre Schoch is also in high demand as a chamber musician. He is a founding member of the ensemble “10forBrass” and the Duo Schoch/Höricke. Regularly Schoch is also invited to play with the famous ensemble “German Brass”. Since 2020 Schoch is tutoring trumpet students at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and frequently leads rehearsals for the academy’s brass ensembles.

From 2015 to 2017 he taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Schoch has given serval acclaimed Masterclasses at the Karajan Academy, the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Manhattan School of Music. Born in 1987, Schoch was given his first trumpet lesson at the age of eight by Ansgar Dümchen. From 2004 to 2007 he was a student at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, studying with Professor Reinhold Friedrich and Professor Klaus Bräker. Later he studied with Professor Matthias Höfs at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and from 2010 to 2012 with Gábor Tarkövi at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Schoch‘s versatile repertoire, as soloist and chamber musician, has been released on various audio- and video recordings by labels such as Berlin Classics, Dabringhaus & Grimm and Genuin.

At the age of eleven, Thomas Leyendecker, who until then had only played the recorder, decided he wanted to learn the trombone – because it looked so impressive. Another possible motivating factor here was his father, an amateur band trombonist, who also inspired Thomas’s interest in the sound of trombones with his recordings by Glenn Miller. From 1999 Leyendecker studied with Henning Wiegräbe at the Saarbrücken Musikhochschule. Another decisive influence on his career was the instruction of Hartmut Karmeier. Before he came to the Berliner Philharmoniker, he gathered orchestral experience during an internship with the Duisburg Philharmonic and through a scholarship from the Orchestra Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He played in the German national jazz orchestra and with several opera and symphonic orchestras, most notably the Ludwigshafen Staatsphilharmonie; he was also engaged by the Darmstadt Staatstheater. Leyendecker’s interest in early history and pre-history takes him on frequent visits to Berlin’s museums. He enjoys hiking and has just discovered a new hobby: foldboating.

First prize at the German national competition “Jugend musiziert”

Raphael Haeger had wanted a percussion set since the age of four, although he although enjoyed playing other instruments, especially the piano. For a long time, the graduate of the Trossingen Staatliche Hochschule für Musik couldn’t decide with which of the two instruments to make his professional career.

His acceptance by the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2004 was the determining factor. Before that, Haeger had been a percussionist in the orchestra of the Mannheim National Theatre and artistic director of two jazz concert series. In 2002, as a pianist, he released a CD with his own jazz compositions. Playing the piano is now among his favourite hobbies, along with reading, walking and swimming.

Thomas Timm studied with Klaus Hertel (Leipzig), Zakhar Bron (Lübeck) and Igor Ozim (Berne). He won several competitions and received a number of foundation grants, both in Germany and abroad. Concert tours have taken him to many European countries, Japan, China and the USA. As soloist, he has appeared with orchestras including Leipzig’s Gewandhaus and MDR-Sinfonieorchester as well as the Berne Symphony Orchestra. His chamber-music partners include Nelson Freire and Lars Vogt, and he also leads the Philharmonic String Quintet. In addition, since 2003, Timm has been a teacher in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy.

“The horn is for boys”, Sarah Willis’s schoolteacher told her, and so he suggested that she learn the flute or the oboe. That remark served as a challenge to the US-born Brit, who grew up in Tokyo, Boston, Moscow and London and had her first horn lessons at the age of 14. After studying for three years on the Performer’s Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Sarah continued her training with Fergus McWilliam in Berlin.

From 1991 to 2001 she was a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin and in 2001 became the first female brass player to be accepted into the ranks of the Berlin Philharmonic. Sarah Willis has performed with other leading orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, London Symphony and the Sydney Symphony Orchestras and has appeared as a soloist all over the world. She has recorded various acclaimed albums, her most recent of which, Mozart y Mambo, is a fusion of classical and Cuban rhythms.

Sarah is involved in many of the Berlin Philharmonic education projects and especially enjoys creating and presenting Family Concerts. She also interviews conductors and soloists for the Digital Concert Hall. Sarah is passionate about music education and makes full use of digital technology and social media to reach audiences world- wide. She is also a regular broadcaster and interviewer on TV and online and fronts the classical music programme Sarah´s Music for Deutsche Welle TV. Sarah’s contributions to classical music were recognised at the highest level in the UK when she was made an MBE – Member of the Order of the British Empire – by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours List for services to charity and for the promotion of classical music.

Learn more at sarah-willis.com

Born in Cologne in 1985, Johannes Lamotke was a junior student under Sibylle Mahni-Haas in Frankfurt before studying under Friedrich Dallmann in Berlin, Thomas Hauschild in Leipzig and Paul van Zelm in Cologne. Winner of the national “Jugend Musiziert” competition and the International Horn Competition in Békés, Johannes Lamotke also attended several masterclasses held by Ferenc Tarjani, Palma Szyilagy and Christian Lampert, among others.

After a scholarship at the orchestra academy of the Staatsorchester Kassel, the horn player began his career as an orchestra musician with the Bremer Philharmoniker, before moving to the Komische Oper Berlin as principal horn in September 2014. Work as an extra took him to the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsorchester.

The sound of the cor anglais (English horn) has been familiar to him since his earliest childhood: his father was the cor anglais player in the Bavarian State Orchestra. But Dominik Wollenweber took the long way round to this instrument. He first played the flute and, aged 14, took up the oboe, which he studied in Munich with Hagen Wangenheim at the Musikhochschule and with Simon Dent at the Richard Strauss Conservatory.

He made his first contacts with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a scholar of the Orchestra Academy, in which he studied from 1991-93 with Hansjörg Schellenberger. During this time, Wollenweber was principal oboist of the European Union Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. After applying for various oboe positions, he approached the Berliner Philharmoniker to audition for the vacant cor anglais post and was engaged.

In addition to his many activities in the orchestra and chamber music, he has taught since 2000 as a visiting professor for oboe at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule. The father of six children, he prefers to spend his free time with his family.

Sponsors’ prize of the Bavarian Ministry for Culture (1992), prize-winner at the ARD International Competition in Munich

Wenzel Fuchs comes from a region where traditional wind music is highly valued. The Innsbruck native, scion of a musical family, was already playing the clarinet as a child in various wind ensembles. After first studying in Kitzbühel and Innsbruck, he went to the Vienna Musikhochschule, where he had the opportunity of playing as a substitute with the Wiener Philharmoniker. He began his professional career as principal clarinettist of the Vienna Volksoper, then moving to the Austrian Radio (ORF) Symphony Orchestra and in 1993 to the Berliner Philharmoniker.

In addition to his work in the orchestra, Fuchs is active as a soloist and chamber player in, among other groups, the Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, Philharmonic Wind Soloists, Philharmonic Octet and the Philharmonic Friends of Vienna-Berlin. He also teaches in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy, held a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin (from autumn 2008 to summer 2012), a visiting professorship at Geidai University in Tokio, Japan (since 2012) and an honorary professorship at the Shanghai Conservatory, and he gives master classes all over the world. Since October 2015 he is professor at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Wenzel Fuchs enjoys skiing and likes most of all to spend his free time with his family.

Prize of the Austrian Ministry for Science and Art, several prizes in the German national youth competition “Jugend musiziert”

A neighbour advised Allan Nilles’ parents to let their child learn an instrument as soon as possible as it would later increase his chances of getting a scholarship to Harvard or Yale University. As a result, he started receiving viola lessons when he was only three years old. His parents’ decision did not take him to Harvard or Yale, but to the Juilliard School where he studied under Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. In 2011, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music. While still a student, he performed several times with violinist Itzhak Perlman in chamber music concerts as a member of the Perlman Music Program.

The Illinois-born musician gained his first orchestral experience at Tanglewood and with the New World Symphony Orchestra before he joined the viola section of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in 2012. To continue his artistic development, Allan Nilles took part in the Lucerne Festival Academy in 2013, and in January 2015 he became a student of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Only a month later he successfully auditioned for a position in the viola section of the orchestra, which he took up in May 2015. Music also plays an important role in his free time: The American calls himself a keen amateur composer and writes short pieces and hip hop music. Another of his hobbies is reading.