Chamber Music Evening N° 4

Matthias Wollong was born in Berlin in 1968 and began taking violin lessons at age five. After studying at the special school for music in Berlin, Werner Scholz accepted him into his master class in 1984.

From 1987 till 1989, Matthias Wollong studied with legendary violinist and teacher Tibor Varga in Switzerland. He concertized in Germany, France and Switzerland as concertmaster and soloist of the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra during this time. His studies ended after he won the violin competition named after his teacher.

He has been honored with numerous other awards, including first prize of the Joseph Joachim Competition in Austria.

Matthias Wollong has appeared as a soloist under such prominent conductors as Heinz Wallberg, Adam Fischer, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Marek Janowski and Sir Colin Davis, and orchestras such as the ORF Symphony Orchestra, the RSO Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Weimar, and Philharmonic orchestras in Suhl, Halle, Cottbus etc.

Born in Dessau in 1966, Jörg Faßmann started violin lessons at the age of five. Only four years later he gave his solo debut with an orchestra. He studied violin from 1983 to 1989 at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music under Gustav Schmahl and Klaus Hertel as well as under Reinhard Ulbricht in Dresden. He has been a prize-winning entrant in international violin competitions.

After joining the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1987, Jörg Faßmann became deputy concertmaster in 1989. Alongside his orchestral duties, he has been a member of the Dresden String Trio since 1995, during which time the group has performed many concerts in Europe and elsewhere and produced numerous CDs. 

In addition he has collaborated for many years with the pianist Gunther Anger, frequently appearing at chamber music festivals and performing regularly in the Semperoper Dresden. As a solo performer he has been invited to appear with a number of German orchestras on tour in Italy and in Asia.

Furthermore, since 1991 Jörg Faßmann has been on the faculty of Dresden’s Conservatory of Music. In 2009 he was appointed to teach a masterclass at the Conservatorio Real Superior in Granada. In the same year he was invited to give concerts and workshops at the University of Wisconsin.

Sebastian Herberg was born in Potsdam in 1968, where he was received his first viola lessons at the local music school. From 1984 to 1990 he studied at the Franz Liszt College of Music in Weimar under Thomas Wünsch, principal viola of the MDR Symphony Orchestra.

After leaving college his first engagement was with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at Berlin’s Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt, where he was principal viola from 1991 to 1994. During this time he was also a graduate student at the Hanns Eisler College of Music in Berlin, studying under Alfred Lipka. 

In August 1994 Sebastian Herberg was appointed principal voila of the Staatskapelle Dresden. In addition he is on the faculty of the Carl Maria von Weber Conservatory of Music, where he tutors young violists.

He has appeared in concert in Germany and abroad as a soloist as well as a member of the »Dresden String Trio«, which he joined in 1995. Sebastian Herberg has already released six CDs as a soloist and chamber musician.