The Philharmonic String Quintet Berlin is unique in its instrumentation: instead of enlarging the string quartet with an additional viola or cello, the ensemble is completed by adding a double bass. This deliberate choice allows the ensemble to act like a one-to-a-part string orchestra since all five string sections are represented: “Based on our experiences, the compositions gain tremendously in breadth of sound”.

 

 

The quintet thereby crosses the boundaries of a purely chamber music setting towards a formation with a symphonic sound. The repertoire of the ensemble includes original quintet works but also numerous other works in arrangements for their specific instrumentation.

 

The Philharmonic String Quintet Berlin emerged from the longstanding collaboration between Wolfgang Talirz and Romano Tommasini with master cellist Tatjana Vassiljeva. Their first concert was given in February 2007 in Belgium. With great success! Within a short period of time it advanced to a sought-after ensemble which plays many acclaimed concerts throughout Europe and tours in Asia every year.

 

 

Luiz Filipe Coelho, First Violin
Romano Tommasini, Second Violin
Wolfgang Talirz, Viola
Tatjana Vassiljeva, Cello
Gunars Upatnieks, Double Bass

 

 

Luiz Filipe Coelho, First Violin
Luiz Filipe Coelho began playing the violin at the age of four. He received his first les-sons in his home town of São Paulo from Elisa Fukuda. He later continued his education in Eu-rope: in 2001, he became a student of Ulf Wallin at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin, and from 2004 to 2005, he studied at the School of Music in Piteå, Sweden. He then returned to Berlin to attend the University of the Arts and perfected his skills with Guy Braustein and Axel Gerhardt. In 2007 and 2008, Luiz Filipe Coelho was a student of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and becomes a regular member of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2012. Luiz Filipe Coelho is a several times winner of the German Musical Instruments Fund competition of the German Foundation for Musical Life. Since February 2007 he plays a Lorenzo Storioni Cremona violin from 1774, owned by the Federal Republic of Germany.

 

 

Romano Tommasini, Second Violin
Romano Tommasini is the son of Italian parents and grew up in Luxembourg and France. He completed his musical studies in 1983 in Paris. After being first concertmaster in the Nancy Orchestra, he became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1989. In addition, he is a member of the Philharmonic Octet and of the Kammerorchester Wien-Berlin.

 

 

Wolfgang Talirz, Viola
Wolfgang Talirz has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 1983 and has been actively involved in many chamber music formations of the orchestra, for which he has received many distinctions. Furthermore, he is a member of the Kammerorchester Wien-Berlin and plays worldwide tours in formations composed of soloists from the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras.

 

 

Tatjana Vassiljeva, Cello
Tatjana Vassiljeva studied in Russia and Germany and is winner of numerous in-ternational competitions. As a soloist, she has performed with many of the world’s leading or-chestras including London Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the New Japan Philharmonic under conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, David Zinman, Claudio Abbado, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Spivakov and Yuri Bashmet. Since 2014 she is the principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.

 

 

Gunars Upatnieks, Double Bass
Gunars Upatnieks comes from a Latvian family of musicians, whose father was a double bass player. Fascinated by the possibilities and the sound, he studied double bass in Riga and Brno. He was principal bassist in the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and played in the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester until he became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2011. Gunars Upatnieks has won numerous competitions and worked as a soloist with renowned orchestras and conductors.

 

 

 

Antonín Dvořák（1841-1904）
String Quintet No.3 in E-flat major, Op.97
I. Allegro non tanto
II. Allegro vivo
III. Larghetto
IV. Finale: Allegro giusto

 

- Intermission -

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart（1756-1791）
Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, K.492

Niccolò Paganini（1782-1840）
La Campanella, for Viola and Strings (arr. William Primrose)

Giovanni Bottesini（1821-1889）
Grande Allegro di Concerto “alla Mendelssohn”, for Double Bass and Strings

David Popper（1843-1913）
Spinning Song, Op.55, No.1, for Cello and Strings

Pablo de Sarasate（1844-1908）
Carmen Fantasy, Op.25, for Violin and Strings

Leonard Bernstein（1918-1990）
West Side Story Suite

 

Janis Joplin（1943-1970）
Purple Haze

* The Program is subject to change.

 

Truly extraordinary. They can sound as full as a string orchestra and as delicate as a string trio if necessary.
- DANIEL BARENBOIM

The name of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is sufficient to point out the level of excellence of such an ensemble. One of the best concerts at “Saoû chante Mozart” in 20 years. Exceptional performers.
- LA TRIBUNE

With their passionate, dynamically differentiated playing, the strings present themselves with an exuberant joy of music-making.
- AACHENER ZEITUNG

Tasteful, radiant, the interpretation of the Berliners is simply beautiful.
- DOLOMITEN

An absolute delight from the first note to the last … a triumph.
- CAMBRIDGE NEWS

A symphonic abundance.
- WIESBADENER ZEITUNG