Peter Dörpinghaus, trumpet
Sören Linke, trumpet
Bernhard Plagg, trumpet
Uwe Saegebarth, trumpet
Stephan Stadtfeld, trumpet
Helge von Niswandt, trombone
Vladimir Vereš, trombone
Johannes Lipp, tuba
Mark Voermans, timpani & percussion

The brass players of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin have been performing as a chamber music ensemble since the 1980s, with a broad repertoire and their own tailor-made arrangements and compositions.

Highlights have included performances before the Federal Assembly, at the “Pour le Mérite” award ceremony, at Hertha BSC and a guest performance in Hong Kong. They collaborate closely with Hans-Eckardt Wenzel and have produced a CD together. In addition to regular open-air concerts at the Gendarmenmarkt, the ensemble's Christmas concerts have become a musical highlight of the Advent season for the audiences.

Johanna Pichlmair, violin
Jana Krämer-Forster, violin
Matthias Benker, viola
Andreas Timm, cello
Prof. Ralf Forster, clarinet
Yuan Yu, flute
Prof. Ronith Mues, harp

Founded in 2007 at the Konzerthaus, the ensemble owes its name to its members’ unwavering admiration for the work of conductor Jascha Horenstein (1898–1973), who also had strong ties to Berlin.

Exciting programmes and diverse, sometimes unusual instrumentations—combining strings, winds, and harp—are characteristic of the “Horensteine.” In addition, they find it immensely enriching to invite guest musicians for further musical combinations.

The ensemble’s repertoire ranges from works by Rameau, Mozart, and Spohr through Brahms, Ravel, and Messiaen to Widmann and Yun. It also focuses on chamber music by British composers such as Williams, Bax, Elgar, Somervell, Arnold, and Britten, whose works are rarely heard in Germany.

Commissioned specifically for its unique instrumentation were “Philaki” by Samir Odeh-Tamimi (premiered in 2010 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall) and “Le Tombeau de Maurice Ravel” by Allain Gaussin (premiered in 2011).

ACOUSENCE records released the debut album “Tempelhof” in 2011, followed by the CD “Lost Generation” in 2015. On this album, the Horenstein Ensemble focuses on representatives of the generation of composers—including George Butterworth and Rudi Stephan—who died very young during World War I, thereby raising the question of what else these now almost forgotten composers might have created.