1st Violin Tutor - Benjamin Pant

Violinist Benjamin Pant (UK/Nepal) studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, followed by private studies with Martin Funda and Ikki Opitz. He held positions with the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin and the MDR Symphony Orchestra and performs with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. He has been a member of the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin since 2022.

2nd Violin Tutor - Julia Ungureanu

Julia Ungureanu was born into a family of musicians and studied in Cologne, Berlin, Vienna, Karlsruhe and London. After many years as a guest in various orchestras, such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic and the Munich State Orchestra, she was leader of the Mainz Philharmonic State Orchestra. This was followed by a trial as co-leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, with which she made her debut as a soloist at the Barbican in 2022.

Since then, she has been a regular member of the Sinfonia of London and shares the joy of music as a private teacher, as a lecturer at the Al-Farabi Music Academy Berlin, the Charlottenburg Music School and various youth orchestras, as well as internationally as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, soloist and concertmaster.

Viola Tutor - Misha Balan-Dorfman

Misha Balan-Dorfman is is a Berlin-based violist and assistant in the class of Prof. Julia Rebekka Brembeck-Adler at the Berlin University of the Arts. He is a regular guest musician in leading German orchestras.

He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Prof. Julia Rebekka Brembeck-Alder and Prof. Wilfried Strehle, at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and the Gnessin School of Music.

He has performed with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, and has appeared as a guest musician with the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

As a chamber musician, he has appeared at major festivals including Zermatt Festival Academy, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Stavanger Chamber Music Festival, and Encuentro de Santander. He is a member of KALA Chamber and the European Philharmonic of Switzerland.

In 2001, he recieved the Yehoshua and Margrit Lakner Foundation Prize.

Cello Tutor - Jonathan Weigle

Jonathan Weigle has been principal cellist of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra since 2015 and regularly plays at the same position at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London and the Orchester de Chambre de Paris.

He has always placed an artistic focus on playing chamber music. Parallel to his cello studies with Josef Schwab and Troels Svane at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, he completed chamber music studies with Ralf Gothoni at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. He is a valued chamber music partner and plays in permanent formations such as the SOTA Piano Trio and the Aperto Piano Quartet.

Jonathan Weigle grew up in a family of musicians in Berlin and has been playing the cello since he was five. As a teenager, he was already a member and soloist with the Junge Philharmonie Brandenburg – an experience that significantly shaped his decision to pursue a professional career.

Jonathan is committed to promoting the music of children and young people holding master classes and workshops in schools as part of the SOTA Music Festival and teaching international cello students as part of the Orchestra Academy of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Double Bass Tutor - Paul Wheatley

Paul Wheatley is a British-German double bassist with a diverse international career spanning orchestral and chamber music. He studied at the RNCM in Manchester with Jiří Hudec and in Munich under Nabil Shehata.

Paul has held positions at the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as performing with leading ensembles including the RSB Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, and the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin.

Alongside his orchestral work, he is an active chamber musician, with engagements taking him across Europe and beyond, including performances in Ukraine, Mexico, Turkey, Italy, and Japan.

Percussion Tutor - Jakob Eschenburg

Jakob Eschenburg was born in Potsdam and began Cello lessons at the age of five, and took up percussion at the Potsdam Municipal Music School Orchestra, where he also received his first timpani training at the age of 12. He soon became a member of the Junge Philharmonie Brandenburg under Sebastian Weigle.

From 2007 to 2012 he studied percussion at the Hannover University of Music, Theatre and Media with Prof. Andreas Boettger, Erich Trog, and Guido Marggrander. He subsequently completed an internship with the Stuttgart Philharmonic and a timpani and percussion academy position at the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, where he performed under conductors including Andris Nelsons, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, and Christian Thielemann.

Since 2014, Jakob Eschenburg has been Principal Timpanist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

Piano Tutor - Holger Groschopp

Holger Groschopp was born in Berlin and studied at the University of the Arts in his hometown with Georg Sava (piano). He also studied composition with Isang Yun and song interpretation with Aribert Reimann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. His extensive concert activities have taken him to most European countries, the Middle East, the Far East, North America and Latin America. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at major festivals (Berlin, Salzburg, Montepulciano, Tongyeong, Spoleto etc.) and is a regular guest in recording studios.

He has received several awards, including at the Brahms Competition in Hamburg. He has long been closely associated with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Boulez Ensemble and other renowned orchestras as an ensemble pianist, soloist and chamber musician. His discography includes works by Busoni, Isang Yun, John Adams, Simon Laks (OPUS Klassik award 2023) and many others.