Felix von Werder

Felix von Werder was born in 1990, grew up in Kiel and started playing the double bass when he was seven. After influential years in the National Youth Orchestra of Germany, he began studying double bass right after graduating from secondary school in 2009; Ekkehard Beringer (NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra) was his teacher at the Hanover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media. His studies were complemented by master courses with Dorin Marc, Esko Laine and Nabil Shehata, among others. He also spent a year at the Janáček Academy in Brno, Czech Republic, in the class of Miloslav Jelínek. During his studies, Felix von Werder held a scholarship of the Joseph Joachim Academy of the NDR Radio Philharmonic. Even during his last year of studies, he received an engagement there for the 2017/18 season before joining the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra in October 2018. He has played as a substitute in Göttingen and Kiel, at the Hanover and Braunschweig State Theatres and at the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. A sought-after and passionate chamber musician, his artistic collaboration with musicians such as Avi Avital is characterized by the wish to expand the double bass literature by unknown works, and to convey these to a larger audience. He finds educational work similarly important and therefore enjoys coaching youth orchestras, for example the Schleswig-Holstein State Youth Orchestra.