Biography

WuWei Sheng

As a sheng soloist, Wu Wei has collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kent Nagano, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, the Orchestre National de France and Myung-Whun Chung, the New York Philharmonic and Susanna Mälkki, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov, and the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

He has premiered more than 400 works, including over 20 concertos for sheng and orchestra by Unsuk Chin, Bernd Richard Deutsch, Ondřej Adámek, Jukka Tiensuu, and Enjott Schneider.

Wu Wei has won numerous international awards, including "Musica Vitale," "Globale RUTH," the German Record Critics' Award, the "Herald Angel Award 2011" at the Edinburgh International Festival, the "BBC Music Magazine Award 2015," the "International Classic Music Award 2015," and the "Best Soloist of Classic Chinese Music Award" in 2017, etc.

He regularly performs at festivals such as the BBC Proms in London and the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. Since 2013, he has been a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Martin Stegner Viola

His father was his first teacher, from whom Martin Stegner received his first violin lessons at the age of eight. After studying with Roman Nodel at the Mannheim University of Music, he switched to the viola and then attended the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1992/1993. His first engagement in 1993 was as Principal Viola of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; three years later, he joined the Berlin Philharmonic.

He performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, America, and Japan, and has given courses at Yale University and the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. He has made several productions with arrangements of Schumann's Lieder, Bach's Solo Suites, and his own version of Bach's Goldberg Variations for viola, cello, and double bass.

Since his youth, he has played jazz music, toured Europe with Roma musicians, and appeared at numerous renowned festivals. Martin Stegner has played with Herbie Mann, Diane Reeves, Thomas Quasthoff, Nils Landgren, Michael Wollny, and Markus Stockhausen, among others.

He was a co-founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group and in 2008 founded the Ensemble Bolero Berlin, in which he and soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic dedicate themselves to South American music.

He works on several intercultural projects and has recorded 3 CDs with the ECM label. His work is documented on 20 CDs to date.

Janne Saksala Doublebass

In his hometown of Helsinki, Janne Saksala began learning the double bass at the age of 14 with Jiri Parviainen. Before that, he had already received piano and violin lessons. His first performances as an electric bassist in various bands followed. He finally discovered the double bass for himself in the chamber orchestra of the music school.

With this in hand, Janne Saksala moved to Berlin in 1986 after graduating from high school to study double bass with Klaus Stoll at the University of the Arts. He found other influential teachers in Duncan McTier, František Pošta, and Ilan Gronich.

In 1991, he was a prize-winner at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Two years later, Janne Saksala became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic, holding the position of 1st Principal Double Bass since 2008.

As an active soloist and chamber musician, he collaborates with partners such as Pekka Kuusisto, Tabea Zimmermann, Olli Mustonen, Isabelle Faust, Leonidas Kavakos, Guy Braunstein, and Leif Ove Andsnes. He has regularly played with the Stradivari Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group, and the Ensemble Oriol.

He dedicates himself with great passion to training the next generation of double bass players. Since 2023, Janne Saksala has held the professorship for double bass at the Berlin University of the Arts. Previously, he held a guest professorship at the "Hanns Eisler" School of Music in Berlin. Janne Saksala also teaches as a guest lecturer at numerous universities in Europe, America, and Asia, regularly at the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden since 2005, and since 2025, composition. He wrote his first piece, "Rituaali," for cello and double bass.