Sophie Stein has been playing the oboe since the age of nine and received her first lessons from Detlef Groß. She was enthusiastic about orchestral playing from an early age and was initially a member of the NRW State Youth Orchestra in 2014 and the National Youth Orchestra from 2015 to 2019. There, she also had the opportunity to take part in various projects including under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, Alondra de la Parra, Kirill Petrenko, Elias Grandy and Paavo Järvi.

Sophie Stein is a multiple national prizewinner of Jugend musiziert and was awarded a special prize in the category ‚Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Work‘ in the WESPE competition in 2018. From 2016 to 2018, this young oboist was a junior student of Kai Frömbgen at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in 2023. In 2015 and 2017, she was given the opportunity to perform as a soloist with an orchestra: First as the winner of the Bühne frei competition with the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker and later with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen as part of a charity concert. From, 2018 she was a scholarship holder of the Dr Carl Dörken Foundation for two years, in 2022 solo oboist of the Moritzburg Festival Academy and in 2024 she participated in a project as solo oboist under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. Since the 2023 autumn term, Sophie Stein has been studying for her master’s degree with Viola Wilmsen at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.

Joshua Weilerstein is the Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, where his contract has been extended until the end of the 2020/21 season. He enjoys a flourishing guest-conducting career and has established a number of close relationships both in Europe and the USA, including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, BBC Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic, where he was assistant conductor. Joshua Weilerstein is known for his clarity of musical expression, unforced manner and natural musicianship.

In the 2019/20 season Weilerstein will return to orchestras such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. At the beginning of the season, he will lead the Orchestra de Chambre de Lausanne on a tour to Germany and will also make his debut with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

During his time as Assistant Conductor with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Weilerstein was actively involved in the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts. In August 2018, he conducted a specially devised programme, ›The Sound of an Orchestra‹, for the BBC Proms which was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s televised presentations in New York and was described as »…an exhilarating musical ride through three centuries’ worth of orchestral music to try to investigate ‚the sound of an orchestra‘.« (Bachtrack)

An advocate of easy communication between the stage and audience, Weilerstein welcomes discussion about all aspects of classical music, programming, and the experience of concert-going.