Philipp Stubenrauch holds the position of the principal double bass player with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
He began playing the double bass at the age of 13 and shortly thereafter won the first federal prize for young musicians twice. After studying with Günter Klaus and Franco Petracchi, at the age of 25 he became the first solo double bass player in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Under the direction of chief conductor Mariss Jansons, he performed, among other things, the double bass concerto by J. B. Vanhal. As a chamber musician he performed a.o. with Valery Afanassiev, Maria João Pires, Baiba Skride and Maximilian Hornung. In 2016, together with colleagues from the Munich Music Academy, he founded the Piazzolla ensemble ESCUALO5. Philipp is a lecturer at the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and has already given master classes in Brazil, Spain, Tokyo and Beijing. Until 2022 he worked for more than ten years at the University of Music and Theater in Munich. He was invited to the Bavarian Bass Days several times as a soloist and lecturer.”(Bearbeitet)Original wiederherstellen

Ranked among the Top 10 bass players in the world, Ida Nielsen is widely regarded as one of the most influential funk musicians of her generation. The Danish virtuoso gained international recognition primarily through her close collaboration with Prince, who personally invited her to Paisley Park in 2010. What began as a jam session evolved into an intense six-year musical partnership that lasted until his passing in 2016 — a period Nielsen describes as a “magical journey” and a life-changing experience.

Prince recognized not only her exceptional slap-bass skills, but also her artistic individuality. From him, she learned to play fearlessly from the heart and to push creative boundaries without compromise. That philosophy continues to define her sound today: powerful old-school funk, technical virtuosity, commanding stage presence, and remarkable versatility.

Born in Aarhus and educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Ida developed an early passion for groove and performance. Yet it was her collaboration with Prince that propelled her onto the international stage and shaped her artistic identity in a lasting way. Today, she stands for modern funk with attitude — bold, authentic, and unmistakably her own.

Professor DaXun Zhang is genius on the doublebass and has appeared as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Tokyo Symphony, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony. He has given recitals in the U.S., Canada, Panama, Japan, Korea, and China. As a chamber musician, he has appeared in music festivals such as the La Jolla SummerFest, Music@Menlo, Strings in Mountains, and Vancouver Summer Combustion, and was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. He has won an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, La Jolla Music Society Prize, Orchestra New England Soloist Prize, Fergus Prize, 2003 WAMSO Competition, International Society of Bassists Solo Competition, and the grand prize of the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition.

Zhang has performed extensively with the Silk Road Project. His recordings include Bassic Bach and Ditto, and for Deutsche Grammophon he has recorded Pressler Connection and two albums with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, New Impossibilities and Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon.

Zhang comes from a family of bassists in Harbin, China. He started playing the instrument at age 9 and studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at age 11. He continued his studies in the U.S. at the Interlochen Arts Academy and received his artist diploma at the Indiana University School of Music, where he worked with Lawrence Hurst. He has served on the faculty of Northwestern University and was previously an associate professor of double bass at the University of Texas at Austin. In the fall of 2019, he joined The Tianjin Juilliard School as resident faculty. 

Blai Gumí Roca received his first double bass lessons at the age of five. He began his studies with Oriol Martí and Xavier Puertas at the Conservatory of Barcelona. He then continued his education at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Nabil Shehata and Wies de Boevé, graduating successfully in 2019.

He has performed with renowned orchestras such as the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the UNESCO Orchestra, and was a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy. In addition, he received artistic inspiration from distinguished double bassists including Esko Laine, Klaus Stoll, Dorin Marc, Alberto Boccini, Heinrich Braun, Toni Garcia, Jonathan Camps, and Andrew Ackerman.

As a soloist, he has appeared with the National Youth Orchestra of Andorra and the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Barcelona, among others. He is also a prizewinner of several competitions.

From 2017 to 2019, he was a member of the Hermann Levi Academy of the Bavarian State Orchestra. Since 2020, he has been Principal Double Bass of the Bavarian State Orchestra, and since 2024 he has been performing with the legendary double bass quartet “The Bassmonsters.”

Seit 1976 prägt Bruce Gertz als Professor für Bass am Berklee College of Music Generationen von Musiker:innen weltweit. Seine herausragende Arbeit in der Musikpädagogik wurde von der International Association of Jazz Educatorssowie dem Jazz Education Network mehrfach ausgezeichnet. Darüber hinaus engagiert er sich im Beirat der International Society of Bassists und als Juror beim Clark Terry UNH Jazzer's Festival.

International bekannt für seine meisterhafte Beherrschung des Kontrabasses, wurde Gertz von den Boston Music Awardsals „Outstanding Bassist“ geehrt. Neben seiner Konzerttätigkeit arbeitet er als Autor von sechs Fachbüchern und als Mitherausgeber des Bass World Magazine. Als Bandleader veröffentlichte er über zwanzig Alben. Gemeinsam mit Claus Freudenstein wurde er für den American Songwriter Award nominiert – ein Beleg für seine kreative Vielseitigkeit.

Bitte auf deutsch: Alongside his role as principal solo double bassist with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilmar de Visser performs on double bass and bass guitar with a wide range of orchestras, ensembles, and bands—several of which he founded himself. Unbound by genre and driven by an exceptionally broad musical curiosity, he embraces the world as his stage. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with an extraordinary spectrum of leading musicians, from Kenyan singer Ayub Ogada and soprano–conductor Barbara Hannigan to cellist Jordi Savall, performing in concert halls across Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Vitória (Brazil), New Delhi (India), and Cotonou (Benin). As the initiator and founder of Splendor Amsterdam (Amsterdam Prize for the Arts, 2015) and co-founder of the music collective LUDWIG (Grammy Award, 2018), Wilmar de Visser stands at the forefront of innovation and artistic entrepreneurship in the international music world.

Andreas Kurz is one of the most sought-after jazz bassists in Germany. He studied in Munich at the University of Music and Theatre with Prof. Klaus Trumpf as well as at the Richard Strauss Conservatory with Paolo Cardoso. Even before beginning his studies, Kurz was a member of the Bavarian State Youth Jazz Orchestra and the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

With the band “Sidewinders,” he became national winner of the “Jugend jazzt” competition in 1999 and received the Biberach Jazz Prize in 2001.

Over the course of his career, he has performed with renowned artists such as Benny Golson, Rick Margitza, Vincent Herring, Don Friedman, Lynne Arriale, Karl Ratzer, Joe Locke, John Betsch, John Hollenbeck, Fritz Pauer, Ralph Lalama, Rudi Mahall, Nicholas Simion, Alan Jones, Miles Griffith, Nils Wogram, Rob Pronk, John Taylor, Bill Elgart, Wolfgang Haffner, Charly Antolini, Gustl Mayer, Duško Gojković, Ferdinand Powel, Paul Kuhn, Johannes Enders, Jamie Cullum, Max Mutzke, Peter O’Mara, Rebekka Bakken, and Ack van Rooyen.

Concert tours have taken him to Australia, the United States, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, France, and the Czech Republic.

In 2009, Andreas Kurz was awarded the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize, and the following year he won the New German Jazz Prize with the Tim Allhoff Trio. He can now be heard on more than 30 CD productions. In 2014, his debut album under his own name, “Caught into Something Turning,” was released on Doublemoon Records.

Elisabeth Büttner was a student of Claus Freudenstein and studied with Prof. Mathias Weber and Nina Valcheva in Stuttgart. She completed her university education at the ZHdK Zurich with Prof. Duncan McTier with a Master of Arts in Music Performance (Orchestra) and a Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy, which she completed in 2017 with distinction.

As a musician, in addition to the modern orchestral repertoire, she lives her passion for chamber music and historical performance practice. As part of the Ensemble Academy of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and master classes in Stuttgart, she researched the use of gut strings with Love Persson. In Zurich she studied the violin with David Sinclair.

Elisabeth Büttner began her pedagogical training in Stuttgart with Song Choi, where she was employed as a tutor for double bass at the Stuttgart Music Academy. In Zurich, she supplemented her pedagogical training under the didactic supervision of Andreas Cincera. She has been teaching double bass since August 2014 and ear training since 2016 as part of the Canton of Thurgau’s gifted education program at the music school in Weinfelden (TG).

As a freelance double bass player, Elisabeth Forster performs regularly with Swiss orchestras and ensembles such as: Musikkollegium Winterthur, Camerata Bern, Swiss Orchestra, Bern Chamber Orchestra, Citylights Orchestra, Ensemble le buisson prospérant (Zurich/Bern), Accademia Barocca Lucernensis and the Chamber Orchestra i tempi (Basel).

Thomas Hartmann began his studies at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich in 1986 with Benedikt Koehlen (main subject piano) and Elmar Schloter (additional subject organ) and graduated in 1990 with the music maturity examination. This was followed by master classes with Jürgen Uhde, Ferenc Rhados (piano) and Christian Rieger (harpsichord), among others.

In 2000 he was awarded the Carl Orff Medal by Liselotte Orff.

As a chamber music pianist in various ensembles (Ensemble Amphion), as a sought-after duo partner and song accompanist, he is always an empathetic and stimulating musician.

In recent years he has been increasingly involved in the performance practice of “early music” and playing historical instruments (harpsichord, clavichord).

In the field of solo piano, he feels particularly committed to modern jazz-inspired classics and contemporary music (collaboration with Ambitus – group for new music).

In addition to his work as a pianist, he also performs as an organist as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles.

​A large number of “Jugend-musiziert” award winners, professional musicians and passionate amateur musicians resulted from his pedagogical work as a piano teacher at the music school in Traunreut and as a private teacher.

​His comprehensive compositional oeuvre ranges from symphonic works (solo concerts), various chamber music ensembles (from duo to decetto) to jazz band compositions and music theater productions.

His works are now performed at well-known festivals such as the Chiemgau Music Spring, the Traunstein Summer Concerts, the Upper Bavarian Culture Days and the Regensburg Jazz Weekend.