For 20 years now, the Philharmonic String Trio Dresden has been an ambassador for its internationally renowned orchestra and its world-famous city of culture. It was formed in 1996, when three leading musicians of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Heike Janicke, Andreas Kuhlmann and Ulf Prelle, got together to rehearse together. Since then, the Philharmonic String Trio has given concerts in many cities, at important festivals and with top-class chamber music partners such as Peter Rösel, Martin Helmchen, the String Trio Berlin (Gaede Trio), Barbara Steude and Shinja Koide. International guest appearances have taken the Philharmonic String Trio to Japan and to South Africa, where it was a partner of the Cape Classic Chamber Music Festival in 2011. As internationally sought-after soloists and chamber music partners, the three musicians rise to the challenge of achieving contemporary interpretations in the string trio - perhaps the most difficult string formation between chamber music and solo playing - by combining the great tradition of the Saxon String School with new ideas and diverse musical stimuli.
Heike Janicke has been 1st concertmaster of the Dresden Philharmonic since 1995. She studied in her hometown of Dresden with Prof. Heinz Rudolf and Prof. Gustav Schmahl. Master classes with Josef Suk, Max Rostal and Yehudi Menuhin followed, as well as the soloist exam with Wolfgang Marschner.
She won prizes at international competitions such as the Music Competition in Geneva in 1985, the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Graz in 1987, the Georg Kulenkampff Competition in Cologne, the Carl Nielssen Competition in Odense and the Zino Francescatti Competition in Marseille in 1989. From 1991-1993 Heike Janicke was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1993 she joined the London Symphony Orchestra (assistant leader) and worked with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields. Concerts as a soloist and chamber music partner have taken her to many countries in Europe, America and Asia.
Today, in addition to soloist activities, she devotes herself particularly to chamber music tasks in various ensembles with friends at international festivals and gives master classes.
In 1996 she and two colleagues founded the Dresden Philharmonic String Trio, with which she has since toured extensively in Dresden and internationally.
Heike Janicke plays a violin by Giovanni Grancino (Milano) from 1722.
Andreas Kuhlmann began his viola studies at the Folkwang Academy of Music in Essen with Prof. Konrad Grahe. He went on to take the concert exam with Prof. Emile Cantor in Trossingen and further studies with Prof. Serge Collot in Paris. As violist of the Werethina Quartet he graduated with distinction in chamber music. After further studies with the members of the Amadeus Quartet, Yfrah Neaman, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, György Kurtag and Sandor Devich, concert tours and radio recordings followed throughout Europe (BBC, WDR, Hungarian Radio...).
In 1989 Andreas Kuhlmann became a Folkwang Prize winner and in 1991 won the Yehudi Menuhin Award with his quartet at the first London International String Quartet Competition.
After many years as a member of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, substitute work in many orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, and wide-ranging chamber music and solo activities, he became a member of the Dresden Philharmonic in 1994. From 2007 to 2013 he was also a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
Andreas Kuhlmann is the founder and director of the Carus Ensemble, a member of the Philharmonic String Trio and a lecturer at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in viola, orchestral studies and chamber music.
Ulf Prelle began his cello studies in the USA with the La Salle Quartet and Zara Nelsova. Further studies took him to Basel with Thomas Demenga and to Cologne with Boris Pergamenschikow. Subsequently he was a scholarship holder of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has won several first prizes at university competitions and has performed as a soloist with such renowned orchestras as the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Symphony Orchestra.
Intensive chamber music activity with various partners has taken him to Germany and abroad. In 1990 he was a prize-winner of the Siegfried Barchet Competition of the Richard Wagner Society Stuttgart. Since 1992 he has been 1st solo cellist of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is a founding member of the Carus Ensemble, a member of the Philharmonic String Trio and the Collenbusch Quartet.
As a passionate pedagogue, he teaches as a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. In 2015 he published the study book "Leichtigkeit: Eine ergänzende Streichermethodik zur Befreiung der rechten und der linken Hand" with Schott.