Tutti i Contrabbassi!

Marvin Wagner received his first double bass lessons from Erich Hehenberger at the age of eight. After graduating from high school in 2012, he began his artistic studies with Prof. Dorin Marc. During his training, he became a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. In 2017, he continued his studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Prof. Janne Saksala and furthered his training through masterclasses with Prof. Paradzik and Prof. McTier.

In 2014, Marvin Wagner was awarded first prize at the 8th International Johann Matthias Sperger Competition for Double Bass. As a soloist, he has performed with the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra, the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Marienbad, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rheinische Philharmonie State Orchestra, among others. He has received multiple scholarships from the Peter Pirazzi Foundation and the German National Academic Foundation.

In addition to his work as principal double bassist with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, mentor to double bass students and assistant to Prof. Janne Saksala at the Berlin University of the Arts, he regularly performs as guest principal bassist with renowned orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin and the Deutsche Oper. Marvin Wagner was appointed university professor of double bass at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz for the 2026/27 winter semester.

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.

Nhassim Gazale was born in 1983 in Concepción (Chile) and began his first double bass lessons at the age of fourteen.

He was a member of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra as well as the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, before starting to work with the orchestra of his hometown.

In 2009, he was successfully accepted at the Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ in Berlin, where he began studying with Prof. Esko Laine. In 2013, he switched to the class of Prof. Janne Saksala.

He spent a year as an academy member with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and became a permanent member of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin starting in the 2011/12 season. In December 2014, he moved to the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.