Cast

1st Violin

Hedda Steinhardt

Hedda Steinhardt, a native of Oldenburg, began playing the violin at the age of six. She started her education as a junior student of Maria Grevesmühl at the Bremen Music Academy, winning several competitions as a violinist and pianist. She then studied with Gerhard Peters and Susanne Rabenschlag (primarius of the Verdi Quartet) at the Cologne Music Academy, from which she graduated with distinction. She also received chamber music instruction from the Amadeus Quartet. Further musical impulses were provided by master courses with Isabelle van Keulen, Herman Krebbers and the Melos Quartet, among others. Hedda Steinhardt was concertmaster of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and has been a member of the first violin section of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra since 1995. In addition, she dedicates herself intensively to chamber music and gives regular concerts.

More about Hedda Steinhardt

Performances

• Auf in den Urwald!
• 4th chamber concert

photo: Claudia Höhne

Cello

Brigitte Maaß

Brigitte Maaß began playing the cello in 1972. From 1975 to 1983, Edwin Koch was her teacher; she then became a junior student of Arthur Troester at the Lübeck Music Academy. In 1984 she began studying with David Geringas, graduating in 1990. Since 1992 Brigitte Maaß has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra. As part of her numerous chamber music activities, she actively promotes contemporary music.

More about Brigitte Maaß

Performances

• Auf in den Urwald!

photo: Claudia Höhne

Principal Percussion / Timpani

Fabian Otten

Fabian Otten was born in Westphalia in 1993 and received his first percussion lessons at the age of seven. In 2012 he began studying with Massimo Drechsler, Stephan Cürlis and Cornelia Monske at the Hamburg Academy of Music and Theatre. He completed an internship at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Southern Westphalia in 2014, becoming a member of that orchestra until 2016. He has also played with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, including a performance as the featured marimba soloist in Messiaen’s “La transfiguration” at the Cologne Philharmonie. In addition to his orchestral work, he dedicates himself to solo marimba performances. Thus, he was among the finalists at the International Marimba Competition of the Percussive Arts Society in Italy, won the second prize at the International Competition “Marimba Festiva” in Bamberg and a special prize of the Bavarian Radio leading to a subsequent solo recital broadcast by radio. Through 2020, he completed his education in Berlin with Franz Schindlbeck and Rainer Seegers (both Berlin Philharmonic) as well as the percussion soloist Li Biao at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. Since the summer semester 2023 he has a teaching position for marimba at the HMT Leipzig.
Since the 2017/18 season he has been a member of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra.

Performances

• Auf in den Urwald!

photo: Claudia Höhne