Revolution and destruction in the 20th century

Richard Polle was born into a family of musicians. At the age of six, he began his first violin lessons with his mother. At 12, Richard started his studies as a junior student at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Jost Witter and continued his education two years later at the Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere Weimar. He completed his bachelor’s degree with honors under Josef Rissin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and earned his master’s degree with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.

He won numerous national and international competitions, including first prizes and special prizes in solo and duo categories at the “Jugend musiziert” national competition, the international violin competition “Postacchini” in Fermo (Italy), the “Villa de Llanes” competition in Llanes (Spain), as well as awards at the international violin competition “Kocian” in Ústí nad Orlicí (Czech Republic), the international Lake Constance Violin Competition, and the competition of the Kulturfonds Baden e.V.

He has performed with the Kammerorchester der Rheinischen Philharmonie Koblenz, the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Suhl, the Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, the Philharmonie der Stadt Kirow (Russia), the Junge Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, and the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim. He has also participated in several masterclasses, including those with Thomas Christian, Olga Parkhomenko, Roman Nodel, Ana Chumachenko, Boris Garlitsky, and Jörg Widmann.

Richard Polle has been a scholarship recipient from the Thüringen Ministry of Culture, the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt, the Friends of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Musikinstrumentenfonds of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and received the Gerd Bucerius Scholarship from the ZEIT Foundation in the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

From 2014 to 2016, he was a scholarship holder at the Orchestral Academy of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, and since 2016, he has been a permanent member of the first violins.

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.

Enrico Palascino, born in 1982 in Turin, has been a member of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2011. He regularly performs as a chamber musician and soloist, and also works as a substitute with the Hessian Radio, Bavarian Radio, West German Radio, and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He began his violin studies at the age of 8 and later studied with Giacomo Agazzini at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Torino. He then continued his studies with Valeri Gradow in Mannheim and Stephan Picard in Berlin, supported by the Claudio Abbado Music Foundation DESONO.

In parallel, he completed a supplementary chamber music program with Susanne Rabenschlag in Mannheim and became a prizewinner at the Federal Competition with the Yuval Quartet. This led to performances at the Schwetzinger Festspiele, live recordings with Deutschlandradio, and tours in Spain and Italy.

In 2016, he followed his family to Namibia. There, he co-founded a music school for disadvantaged children in Windhoek (YONA) with singer Gretel Coetzee. He also contributed to the re-establishment of the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra (NNSO), organized concerts, composed and arranged Namibian folk songs, and worked publicly to foster a better understanding of classical music in Namibia.

Since returning to Berlin in August 2018, he has continued his involvement with YONA and the NNSO. In his free time, he is passionate about training for triathlons.