Chamber Wind Music with Ensemble Wien-Berlin and Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker Chamber Wind Music with Ensemble Wien-Berlin and Members of the Berliner Philharmoniker

Biography

Ensemble Wien Berlin

The Ensemble Wien-Berlin unites two great orchestral traditions: the Viennese and the Berlin sound. It all began in 1983 at a small festival in Lower Saxony, where five principal wind players from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras met to make music together – with such success that they decided to form an ensemble. In the same year, they embarked on a major tour, and Ensemble Wien-Berlin soon acquired a reputation as an outstanding international wind quintet. Since then, the group has appeared in the world’s leading concert halls and at major festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Mozart Week in Salzburg, the Vienna Festival, and the Lucerne Festival.

Its repertoire spans almost the entire wind quintet literature, with a particular focus on 20th- and 21st-century music. By choosing the name Ensemble Wien-Berlin rather than Quintet Wien-Berlin, the five musicians deliberately left room to expand the core line-up. Strings, piano, or, as in today’s concert, additional wind instruments may be added. The ensemble’s current regular members are, alongside Jonathan Kelly (principal oboe) and Stefan Dohr (principal horn) of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Karl-Heinz Schütz, principal flautist of the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as Gerald Pachinger (principal clarinet) and Richard Galler (principal bassoon) of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

Jelka Weber

Flautist Jelka Weber has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1997. After studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich with Hermann Klemeyer and completing further training at the Karajan Academy, she began her orchestral career as principal flautist of the Magdeburg Philharmonic. She also appears as a soloist and chamber musician, including as a regular guest with the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin. In addition, she is a lecturer at the Karajan Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

Christoph Hartmann

Christoph Hartmann, who discovered the oboe at the age of 13, has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 1992. He studied with Georg Fischer at the Augsburg Conservatory and with Günther Passin at the Munich Academy of Music. He began his orchestral career in 1991 with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, moving to Berlin the following year. Since 1993, Hartmann has taught at the Karajan Academy. In 1999, he founded the Landsberger Sommermusiken festival in his hometown of Landsberg am Lech; Ensemble Berlin later grew out of this initiative.

Andraž Golob

Clarinetist Andraž Golob has been a member of the woodwind section of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2021. A native of Slovenia, he studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz with Gerald Pachinger and Bertram Egger. He gained his first orchestral experience as a freelance player with various orchestras, as a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and as an academy member of the Vienna Philharmonic. In addition to his orchestral work, he is active as a soloist and chamber musician.

Václav Vonášek

Václav Vonášek joined the Berliner Philharmoniker in March 2016, after holding positions as principal bassoonist of the Prague Chamber Philharmonia and as second bassoonist and contrabassoonist of the Czech Philharmonic. He received his training in his hometown of Plzeň, at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and at the Royal College of Music in London. A passionate chamber musician, Václav Vonášek was one of the co-founders of the PhilHarmonia Octet in 2007.

Paula Ernesaks

Horn player Paula Ernesaks has been a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2022. A committed team player, she particularly values the strong sense of cohesion within the horn section. At the age of 14 she began her studies at the Espoo Music Institute, then moved in 2012 to study with Jukka Harju at the Sibelius Academy, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in 2021. She was supported by the training programmes of the Finnish National Opera and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the Berliner Philharmoniker, she completed her orchestral training at the Karajan Academy.