Orchestra members

Born in Israel, violinist Erez Ofer has been the first concertmaster of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2002.

His musical career is flanked by several important successes in competitions: 1. Award at the ARD Competition in Munich, gold medal at the Zino Francescatti Competition in France, 1st prize at the Israeli Radio Competition, silver medal at the world-famous Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium and Paganini laureate at the University of Indiana and winner of the Tibor Varga Competition.

Despite his involvement with the RSB, Erez Ofer continues to be an active soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist, he was enlisted by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Jerusalem Symphony.

Between 1993 and 1998, Erez Ofer was concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lorin Maazel and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Erez Ofer plays a violin made by Domenico Montagnana in 1729.

Kosuke Yoshikawa was born in Tokyo in 1984 into a musical family and received his first violin lessons at the age of three. He later continued his education at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo with Toshiya Eto. From 2003 to 2010 he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Josef Hell and passed with distinction. Later, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Ana Chumachenco and also graduated with honors in 2013 with a master’s degree. His further extensive training was provided by private lessons with Rainer Honeck, concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He was a member of the Orchestra Academy of the Bavarian State Opera from 2010 to 2011, and in 2011 he obtained a permanent position in the first violins in the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Since 2017, he has been first violinist in the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He plays as a substitute with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. His solo successes include prizes at the Stefanie Hohl Competition in Vienna and the International Violin Competition in Sion-Vallais. As a soloist, Kosuke Yoshikawa has performed with members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He has a great passion for chamber music and plays with several ensembles as well as with various violin duos, a piano trio and string quartets.

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.

Nadine Contini, principal second violin, has been a member of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since March 2005.

She was born in 1979 in Saarbrücken and received her first violin lessons at the age of 5 years with Ms Christa Schmitt-Rink. Later she studied under Ulrieke Dierick. In 1996 she was admitted to the Pflüger-Stiftung Freiburg and the Spohr-Akademie for the promotion of highly gifted young violinists, where she was trained by Wolfgang Marschner and Ariane Mathäus. In 2000, she began her studies at the Musikhochschule “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin with Antje Weithaas, where she graduated with the concert exam of 2008. She attended master classes with Antje Weithaas, Wolfgang Marschner, Christian Tetzlaff, Guy Braunstein, and Boris Pergamenchikov.

Nadine Contini has won awards in numerous competitions: In 1998, she was awarded with the first “Young Musicians” federal prize. In addition, she received a second prize at the International Max Reger Competition and a special prize for the best interpretation of a solo work by Max Reger. In 2004, she won the competition of Ibolyka-Gyarfas-Stiftung. She was awarded with prizes for cultural promotion by the Casino Gesellschaft Saarbrücken and the Saarländischen Rundfunk. In addition, she was the prize winner and scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Landesjugendorchester of Saarland, the Cairo Chamber Orchestra, the Cairo Opera Orchestra, the Deutsche Spohr Philharmonie, the Symphonieorchester des Saarländischen Rundfunks as part of the concerts of young artists, the Max Bruch Philharmonie and the Brandenburger Symphoniker.

Nadine Contini plays a violin made by master violinmaker Stefan-Peter Greiner from Bonn and is involved as a mentor in the orchestra academy of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

Alejandro Regueira Caumel, born in 1991 in Málaga/Spain, began playing the violin and piano at the age of six. In Madrid, he studied with Anna Baget and moved to Dionisio Rodríguez as a violist in 2008. In 2009 he came to Germany and studied at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” with Pauline Sachse and Tabea Zimmermann. Master classes with Wilfried Strehle, Andreas Willwohl, Roberto Díaz, Felix Schwartz and Jean Sulem complemented his education.

Chamber music has been a particular focus of his career to date. He participated in the chamber music festival of the “Kronberg Academy” and in the “Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland”, performed repeatedly with the Frielinghaus Ensemble and can be heard regularly at chamber music festivals such as the “Festival Ribeira Sacra” or in the Nikolaisaal Potsdam. He also won first prizes at various competitions, including the “Concurso Ibérico de Música de Cámara con Arpa” (in duo with harpist Maud Edenwald), the XII. International Competition for Viola and Cello “Villa de Llanes”, at the “Concurso María Cristina” for young soloists and at the competition of “Jeunesses Musicales” in Spain.

Alejandro Regueira Caumel gained orchestral experience as a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, as well as through substitute work with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and as principal violist with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana and the Orquesta Nacional de España.

From 2010 to 2012 he was an academist with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and has been its principal violist since 2015.

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.

Born into a family of musicians, Konstanze von Gutzeit began playing the cello at the age of three. She completed her studies from the age of thirteen with Heinrich Schiff in Vienna, and later with Jens Peter Maintz in Berlin and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt in Weimar.

Since 2012 Konstanze von Gutzeit has held the position of principal cellist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. She is also internationally active as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Bochumer Sinfoniker, the Vienna, Munich and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestras, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and many others. She has worked with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Vladimir Jurowski, Michael Sanderling, Marek Janowski, Alexander Shelley and Yuri Bashmet. She has appeared at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Verbier Festival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in numerous recitals and chamber music concerts.

From the beginning of her musical career, Konstanze von Gutzeit drew attention to herself through numerous international competition successes. She is a prizewinner of the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann 2010 and the International Prague Spring Competition 2012. In 2013 she was awarded 1st prize at the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” University Competition in Berlin as well as the interdisciplinary “Mendelssohn Prize”. She was also the winner of the Domenico Gabrielli Competition in Berlin, the “Gradus ad Parnassum” Competition in Austria, the “International Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award” in Switzerland and the “International Suggia Prize” in Portugal. At the German Music Competition 2010 she was awarded a scholarship by the German Music Council and included in the national selection “Concerts of Young Artists”.

Konstanze von Gutzeit plays a cello by Gioffredo Cappa from 1677 as well as a new instrument by the Berlin instrument maker Ragnar Hayn from 2017.

Born in Stuttgart in 1971, Michael Kern grew up in Eigeltingen on Lake Constance.
He received piano lessons at the age of six and clarinet lessons at twelve. Between 1985 and 1989 he won several national prizes in “Jugend musiziert” and was a member of the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Orchestra and the Federal Youth Orchestra.
In 1987 Michael Kern was awarded the Karel Kunc Prize of the city of Bad Dürkheim and the Cultural Promotion Prize of the city of Singen/Hohentwiel.

From 1989 to 1995 he studied clarinet at the Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen. From 1993 to 1995 Michael Kern was a scholarship holder of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Since April 1995 he was solo clarinetist of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.

In September 1996 Michael Kern joined the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin as principal clarinetist.
In addition to symphonic work, Michael Kern is clarinetist of the orchestra’s wind quintet.

Sung Kwon You was born in 1988 in Seoul.

He received his first bassoon lessons from Seoul Arts High School under Kim Beong Yeab. Since 2005 he has been studying at the Berlin University of the Arts under Eckart Hübner.

He is an award winner of several competitions in his home country and attended master classes with Eckart Hübner, Klaus Thunemann, and Marc Trénel. Sung Kwon has worked as a temporary assistant in the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

In 2009, the then 21-year-old became a permanent member of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin as solo bassoonist.

He also regularly works as a chamber musician and soloist in Korea.

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”.

Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1984, Simone Gruppe received her first trumpet lessons at the age of 9 at the Frankfurt Youth Music School with Sunhild Pfeiffer. After graduating from high school, she first studied with Prof. Klaus Schuhwerk, Heiko Hermann and Balázs Nemes at the Frankfurt University of Music and with Prof. Sepp Eidenberger at the Bruckner University in Linz/Austria. She then moved to the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe to study with Prof. Reinhold Friedrich, where she completed her master’s degree with distinction.

She gained orchestral experience in the European Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, among others. After internships with the orchestra of the National Theater Mannheim and the Stuttgart Philharmonic, she has been a member of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2010.

Hannes Hölzl was born in 1987 in Bad Hofgastein, Austria (province of Salzburg). After his musical education started with playing the recorder, he switched to the tenor horn at the age of 5. At the age of 10, he additionally received trombone lessons from Goldegg music school teacher Gernot Pracher. Later he studied at the renowned university “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Prof. Dany Bonvin.

In the years 1998 to 2000 Hannes Hölzl passed the performance badges of the Austrian Brass Band Association in bronze, silver and gold, all with “excellent success”. Furthermore, he was successful in numerous international competitions: starting as winner of the competition “Prima la musica”, receiving the 2nd prize in Cordoba, Argentina as well as the 1st prize at the “European Solo Champion” in Montreux, the 4th prize at the International Brass Competition in Markneukirchen-Germany, the 4th prize at the “Città” competition in Italy, the 4th prize at the “Città” competition in Italy, the 4th prize at the “Città” competition in Italy, the 4th prize at the “Città” competition in Italy, the 4th prize at the “Città” competition in Italy. Prize at the competition “Città di Porcia” in Italy, 2nd Prize at the “Prague Spring”(1st Prize was not awarded), where he also received the “Gustav Mahler Prize” as the youngest finalist of the whole competition and the “Prize of the City of Prague” as the most successful finalist of the trombone competition. He was also awarded the 2nd prize at the International Trombone Competition in Budapest, also he received the Promotional Prize of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Hannes Hölzl is a member of various brass ensembles and performs as a soloist with different brass and symphony orchestras at home and abroad, including China, America, Tunisia, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Germany….

At the age of 18 Hannes Hölzl began his career in the great symphony orchestra with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. In the same year he won a 2 year internship with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. During this time Hannes Hölzl gained his first permanent position at the Mainfrankentheater Würzburg, which he took up at the age of 21 as solo trombonist. Since 2012 he is now solo trombonist of the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin.