Daniel Harding conducts Strauss’ “Don Quixote”

Harding first attracted attention as assistant to Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He then served as assistant to Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker, making his conducting debut with the orchestra in 1996. That same year, he debuted at the BBC Proms in London – as the youngest conductor in the festival’s history. By the time he turned 30, Harding had conducted all the world’s major orchestras. In 2011, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra appointed him honorary conductor for life. From 2016 to 2019, he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris, and from 2007 to 2017 he was principal guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. But Daniel Harding has another passion: Since 2018, he has also been working as a pilot. For him, music and flying complement each other: “I wanted to find something that challenges other parts of my brain.”

Quandt, who made his Philharmoniker solo debut in 1996 under Claudio Abbado with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto, developed a close relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker early. He studied with Arthur Troester in Lübeck, who was the orchestra’s principal cellist from 1935 to 1945 during Wilhelm Furtwängler’s era. Quandt was Troester’s last student, completing his diploma in 1985 and earning his concert exam with distinction two years later. In addition, the cellist attended masterclasses during and after his studies with Boris Pergamenschikow, Zara Nelsova, Maurice Gendron, Wolfgang Boettcher, and Siegfried Palm. Alongside his work in the orchestra, he performs worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician, including with the 12 Cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

In 2014, Mei moved to Germany to continue his studies, first at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Hariolf Schlichtig and later with Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Academy. In 2018, he was successful at the ARD International Music Competition, winning first prize in viola, the audience award, and several special prizes. Soon after, Diyang Mei became principal violist with the Munich Philharmonic, before moving to the same position with the Berliner Philharmoniker. “From the very beginning, I was thrilled by the atmosphere—the openness and willingness to cooperate among the musicians, the transparent and chamber music-like playing,” he says.