Notturno in Leafy Pankow

Anne Mentzen was born in Braunschweig in 1981, where she received her first piano lessons at the age of five. At the age of nine she began horn lessons and from 1998 was trained by Theodor Wiemes, principal horn of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover. After graduating from high school, she began studying horn in the fall of 2000 in the class of Marie-Luise Neunecker at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main. From 2003 she studied with Thomas Hauschild at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, where she graduated with honors. Anne Mentzen won several federal prizes at “Jugend musiziert” as well as prizes at other competitions, both with the horn and on the piano. In 1999, in addition to the first national prize, she was awarded a special prize by the Hanover Artists’ Association and in 2000 she was also awarded the Lower Saxony Prize for “outstanding achievements in the cultural field”. She has also received scholarships from the Volkswagen Bank (1999), the Richard Wagner Association (2000), and the Gustav Mahler Academy (2002, 2005). The hornist gained orchestral experience in the state and national youth orchestras, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and was invited several times to the International Orchestra Academy of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. After an internship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and a temporary position with the Staatsorchester Kassel, she went to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as an intern in 2005. Since 2006 Anne Mentzen has been a horn player with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Here she plays in various chamber music formations, such as the ensemble “Samtblech”.

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.

Gernot Adrion has been the deputy solo violist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 1996.

He studied at the Meistersinger Conservatory in Nuremberg until 1995 with Hans Kohlhase and has been awarded prizes in various competitions, including the national competition “Jugend musiziert,” the IHK competition, the Dr. Drexel competition in Nuremberg, and the German Conservatory Competition in Darmstadt.

In addition to his pedagogical work as a mentor at the RSB Orchestra Academy, chamber music holds a special place in his heart. Since 2006, he has regularly collaborated with Susanne Herzog and Hans-Jakob Eschenburg in the Gideon Klein Trio, and since 2012, in a duo with pianist Yuki Inagawa.

Gernot Adrion plays a viola by Petrus Gaggini.

Hans-Jakob Eschenburg received his first cello lessons at the Rostock Conservatory. After studying with Josef Schwab at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, he was principal cellist of the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1988.

With the renowned Petersen Quartet, of which he was a founding member until 2000, he won several international competitions (Prague, Evian, Florence, Munich) and appeared on the major concert stages and at numerous festivals in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. Several of the Petersen Quartet’s numerous CD recordings have won international awards.

Since 1999 Hans-Jakob Eschenburg has been principal cellist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He held the same position in the chamber orchestra “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach”. He frequently appears as a soloist and chamber musician, including as a member of various chamber ensembles such as the Gideon Klein Trio. Hans-Jakob Eschenburg teaches as an honorary professor at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin. He is also involved as a mentor of the Orchestra Academy of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

Iris Ahrens was born in Bremen in 1967. She began her musical education at a very early age, specializing in piano and chamber music in Georg Espitalier’s folk music group. There she got to know the production work in the recording studio.

Her double bass lessons began at the age of 11. During her music studies, Iris Ahrens initially majored in piano and double bass. After a short time, she decided to deepen her double bass studies. At the age of just 20, she took up her first position in the Bremen State Orchestra. Iris Ahrens then studied at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin with Klaus Stoll. During her studies, the musician was an active member of the ensemble for new music “attacca berlin”.

This was followed by an internship at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and a one-year contract with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra. Iris Ahrens has been a member of the double bass section of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 1994.