The Japanese violinist Hozumi Murata was a prizewinner in a national competition in Japan, where he began his studies with Prof. Toshiya Eto. He made the move to Europe in order to continue his studies at the Music Academy in Prague and has been here ever since.

He was a prizewinner in the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition in Odense (Denmark) and subsequently performed for several years as a soloist at concerts all over Europe. He later continued his studies in Düsseldorf with Rosa Fain and the Amadeus Quartet.

He took part in numerous masterclasses, where Nathan Milstein and Ivry Gitlis were his most important teachers. Hozumi Muarata has been a member of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 1988.

Sebastian Steinhilber was born in 1990 and began learning the violin aged 8 but quickly switched to the viola. He gained his first orchestral experiences in Reutlingen Youth Orchestra and in the Baden Württemberg Regional Youth Orchestra. While at college, Sebastian Steinhilber was a member of the Young German Philharmonic for many years and therefore gained deep insights into the world of orchestral playing. Between 2014 and 2016 he completed a course of study at Bamberg Symphony Orchestra’s Joseph Keilberth Orchestra Academy which enabled him to further deepen his already professional experiences.

Sebastian Steinhilber is currently studying wth Tatjana Masurenko at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy College of Music and Drama Leipzig, having previously earned his bachelor’s degree with Professor Roland Glassl at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt. He has also taken inspirational and instructive masterclasses with teachers such as Hartmut Rohde, Atar Arad, Garth Knox and Françoise Gneri. Sebastian Steinhilber has been a third year Academy Student with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since March 2019.

Born to a Japanese musical family in Stuttgart in 1991, this young bassoonist grew up in Baden Wurttemburg. She completed her studies with Akio Koyama in Trossingen and Dag Jensen in Munich. Rie Koyama plays her instrument with an intensity that is seldom heard. This young musician has won first prize in 24 national and international awards to date including the Muri Competition, the German Music Competition, the Internationial Academic Oboe and Bassoon Competition in Łódź/Polen as well as the German Music College Competition. In 2013 she won Second Prize in the Bassoon category of the ARD International Music Competition (where no First Prize was awarded). She also won the Special Prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned piece.

Rie Koyama has won scholarships from the Jürgen Ponto Foundation, the Rohm Music Foundation in Japan and in 2012, was awarded a one-year scholarship of the German Music Foundation. As soloist, she has already performed with several well-known international orchestras in Europe and Asia and frequently appears as guest soloist at eminent music festivals. She is a regular member of a number of chamber music ensembles including Trio Walter, the Veits Quintet and the Franz Ensemble. Rie Koyama has recorded a number of solo and chamber works. Her next solo CD, produced together with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, is due to be released in 2012. She has been Principle Bassoon with the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since September 2015.

Zuzana Schmitz-Kulanova was born in Slovakia and began taking violin lessons at the age of six. Her move to Igor Karsko at Lucerne Music College – where she obtained her diploma in concert and solo performance with honours – was followed by continued studies with Vesselin Paraschkevov at the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen.

Between 2007 and 2017, she was concertmaster of the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra in Essen and has held the same post with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra since 2016. The violinist is a very welcome guest performer with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Zuzana Schmitz-Kulanova has frequently performed with the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra as well as with the Kosice State Philharmonic and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

Her particular passion is for chamber music. She is a founder member of Ensemble Ruhr, with whom she performs regularly in a variety of chamber music formations. She has been a member of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2017.

Juliane Bruckmann was accepted as a young student at the University for Music and Dance in Cologne, initially with Prof. Gottfried Engels. After gaining her university entrance qualification she switched to the University of Music in Freiburg and continued her studies under Prof. Bozo Paradzik. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in summer 2016 and is currently working for her Master’s degree. She received further important musical input by attending masterclasses with, among others, Prof. Dorin Marc, Prof. Janne Saksala, Prof. Esko Laine and Prof. Christine Hoock. Juliane Bruckmann is a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Association, Freiburg.

Orchestral playing always has been and still is her passion. She was a long-standing member of the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie and of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, and regularly played in the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg. Juliane has been a member of The Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2016.