The Firebird

Steffen Tast was born in 1965 in Berlin.

After studying violin at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin in 1987, he became a member of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB). In the same year, his interest in contemporary music led him to the chamber ensemble “Kammerensemble Neue Musik” Berlin (KNM).

In recent years, he has been appearing increasingly as a conductor. Initially, the focus was on working with KNM Berlin. This was followed by invitations as a conductor with the Ensemble Oriol, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Ensemble Modern, and the Ensemble Ascolta Stuttgart. Since 2005 he has been regularly conducting chamber orchestra concerts with members of the RSB and their orchestra academy, and also symphony concerts as part of the family- and school student concerts of the orchestra since 2014. In his home village of Klein Leppin in north-western Brandenburg, he was one of the initiators of the project “Dorf macht Oper” (“Village makes opera”) in 2005 and has since been its musical director.

Steffen Tast is involved as mentor in the orchestra academy of the RSB.

Malte Arkona has been on air without interruption for 15 years – as the presenter of TV programmes such as ‘Die beste Klasse Deutschlands’ (ARD/KiKa), ‘Tigerenten Club’ (ARD/KiKa), ‘Das Sommerhaus der Stars’ (RTL) or ‘Schlauberger’ (SWR) and ‘SWR auf Tour’ (SWR). Many words are needed to describe Malte Arkona. He is, as the saying goes, a true jack-of-all-trades, one who has been blessed with many talents. In a nutshell, Malte Arkona is a TV presenter, event and concert host, actor, dubbing artist, musician, theatre and musical performer and opera singer. Sounds like a lot, and it is. But he wouldn’t be Malte Arkona if he didn’t have so much to do. He is characterised by diligence and the necessary amount of curiosity. Malte got his first taste of the stage at the age of six, and two years later he had his first theatre role under his belt. The spark had been lit, the passion awakened. He started playing the piano while still a boy. Beethoven instead of kicking balls, Mozart instead of MTV. Since then, he has been going full throttle. There are no half-hearted things for Malte Arkona. You just have to want to, then doors will open. The Hanover native, whose father was a rock star with the band ‘Eloy’ and sold out concerts, puts his heart and soul into everything he does. What he does, he does to perfection: the fact that he was awarded the ‘ECHO Klassik’ prize for the third time in 2017 is testament to this. In 2014 alone, Malte Arkona appeared in a total of five radio plays, including the 1LIVE midnight thriller ‘Junge’ and the children’s radio plays ‘Erwin & Rosi’ (Edel Kids) and ‘Felix und Frieda’.

As a presenter for events and concerts, he has already worked for such high-ranking ‘employers’ as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nuremberg State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He has chaired a press conference with the Chinese prodigy pianist Lang Lang, opened cinema premieres and hosted award galas. Among others, it should be emphasised. Malte Arkona is someone who knows exactly what he wants and someone who always wants to improve. But never with a tight lip. The 38-year-old is a cheerful, open-minded person. He always has a smile on his face. So it’s no wonder that Malte is also very popular with children and young people – because, as we all know, you can’t pretend to be something you’re not to the younger generation. From 2002 to 2008 and again since 2014, he was a presenter on the famous and popular ‘Tigerenten Club’ (ARD/KiKA), which won the Bavarian Television Award during his time as a presenter in 2006. In addition, he has hosted the programme ‘Die beste Klasse Deutschlands’ (ARD/KiKA) since 2009, played in the musical theatre play ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, in the play ‘Oliver’, ‘Das Schwarzwaldmädel’ and ‘Der kleine Medicus’, to name but a few. The latter was released in cinemas in winter 2014 and also appeared on DVD in 2015. Malte Arkona was also able to ‘play’ a role in this film. As a dubbing actor, he lends his voice to the main character ‘Rappel’ – and on top of that, the radio play was released to match the cinema film.
With Malte Arkona, there’s always something to listen to.