You went through Walter Levin's school with the Kuss Quartet very young and worked with him for a long time. Today you are a professor for string quartet in Hanover. How did that happen?
Our quartet was founded in 1989 by Eberhard Feltz, who accompanied it for many years when we were fourteen.
But yes, I also owe a lot to Walter Levin, I met him when I was sixteen.
He taught courses in a postgraduate course for quartets in Basel, which he always shared with someone in recent years.
In 2009 he asked me if I would be interested in teaching these courses with him – of course it was an honor for me.
So I worked with him on the last course he gave in Basel.
Due to illness, he soon stayed in America, so that I taught five fantastic young quartets alone.
At the same time, I was invited by the Hanover University of Music and in 2011 I received the newly created professorship for string chamber music.
A new chamber music institute had just been founded in Hanover,
What distinguishes the string quartet course in Hanover?
We were free to design the institute, there were no established models for such a master's degree in Germany at the time.
I was lucky that quartets wanted to come along from Basel, who were looking for a new intellectual home, but couldn't commit themselves through compulsory residency (major subject, weekly minor subjects, orchestra).
It was clear: we have a great opportunity if we are flexible.
We could start the string quartet program with established ensembles that would have a diverse presence inside and outside the school.
But the course should make this possible: intensive, individual support, enriched by joint workshops with professionals from the current scene, for program design, music education, work with composers, concerts in various formats.
That's how it happened.
There are now chamber music courses and professorships at many universities, but these are often not formally independent enough to allow creative freedom and a helpful transition to work.
Individual support in music studies is a big issue for me.
I would like to educate young artists to be independent, they should already build up their own network during their studies.
Where are the quartets accommodated when they are in Hanover?
We have a great sponsorship group, which I joined right away: I don't want any money, I need host families.
The ensembles can stay the night privately during visits lasting several days and are really spoiled.
I work four or five hours a day with them - this intensive care is right for everyone in this founding phase of life.
Unlike Walter Levin's fixed-term courses, which some ensembles had to cancel because they had a concert or a recording.
Will the string quartet boom continue?
Every string player probably has the dream of the string quartet.
Only two handful of famous ensembles can make a living from playing quartets – nothing has changed about that.
However, the desire to lead a self-determined musical life, but not alone, that may have something to do with current life plans.
In the string quartet I have the whole world of music in front of me and I have to decide what I'm going to do now, which way I'm going, what interests me, what strengths I'm going to focus on.
But you have to learn quartet properly, it's never quick.
How do I work together, how do I understand these large scores, how do I find a common language - many hours of intense debate.