Career:
Andrzej Balsam has dedicated himself to his great passion, the trumpet, since the age of 11. He began teaching at an early age and traveled halfway around the world to find his own versatile and intercultural style. Andrzej Balsam particularly enjoys passing on his knowledge and passion for music to children and young people. He is convinced that music is a universal language. This is also reflected in his motto: "You can even teach a horse to play the trumpet, as long as you find a language that both understand."
Andrzej Balsam has been a trumpet teacher at the JBK since 2004, specializing in big band, musicals and film music.
Latest news
Piano summer course with Naomi Yoshimura from 26.7. to 30.7.2025.
You can find more information here
Career:
Cord Garben, born in Bad Homburg in 1943, is a conductor as well as a teacher. He has worked with, among others: NDR Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Tokyo Philhamonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Prague, Warsaw Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. His recordings of works by Kurt Weill with Brigitte Fassbaender and the Mozart piano concertos with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli have attracted particular attention.
His international activities as an accompanist for great singers have also led to complete recordings of the song works of Alexander Zemlinsky, Hector Berlioz and Carl Loewe, among others. As an author, Cord Garben has published two books on Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and a biography of Carl Loewe. He is an honorary member of the Johannes Brahms Society Hamburg and the International Carl Loewe Society.
As a lecturer at the JBK, Cord Garben has been teaching song accompaniment, piano and accompaniment since 2007.
Career:
Darlene Ann Dobisch is internationally acclaimed for her role as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's "The Magic Flute". She has worked successfully with conductor, pianist and director Christoph Hagel for many years, including in "Breakin' Mozart" with the DDC Break Dance Company and "Zauberflöte Reloaded" with the Berliner Symphoniker. Darlene Ann Dobisch is the winner of the Robert P. Manero Prize for outstanding musicians and a finalist for the Rolf Mares Prize in Hamburg. The sought-after concert soloist also gives masterclasses in Germany and abroad.
Passionate vocal pedagogue Darlene Ann Dobisch has been teaching at the JBK since 2022.
Career:
Born in Hamburg, Dr. Peter Sabbagh holds a doctorate from the University of Hamburg and has been a sought-after lecturer at five colleges and two universities since 1988. He also teaches at the Hamburg Conservatory and gives guitar and piano lessons.
Dr. Peter Sabbagh has been a lecturer in form theory, ear training, music theory and work analysis at the JBK since 1995.
Career:
Dr. Wolfgang Doebel began his teaching career as a lecturer at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Hamburg. He has worked for the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and for Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR Kultur and NDR Elbphilharmonie-Orchester). Wolfgang Doebel was also a member of the executive committee of the Johannes Brahms Society and chairman of the Richard Wagner Association in Hamburg. He has been President of the MAS Musik-Akademie e. V. since 2016.
Dr. Wolfgang Doebel has been teaching general musicology, musicology and ornamentation at the JBK since 2003.
Career:
Elena Sukmanova is an active concert pianist and regularly performs in various chamber music ensembles. Together with her sister, the soprano Julia Sukmanova, she has made highly acclaimed recordings of song cycles by Pauline Viardot, Mikhail Glinka, Sergei Rachmaninov and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
She is co-founder of the concert series "Musiksalon Lied und Kunst" and the master class series "Drei Meistertage", in which renowned artists such as Helmut Deutsch, Vesselina Kasarova, Margreet Honig, Hans-Josef Kasper and Cornelia Helfricht teach.
As artistic director of the association "Klassik für Kinder, Klassik mit Kindern", she is committed to introducing children to classical music in an entertaining yet meaningful way and giving them their first stage experiences.
Elena Sukmanova has been teaching piano, chamber music and accompaniment at the JBK since 2004.
Career:
Ernst Poets, born in 1956, studied musicology as well as literature. He is mainly active in the genres of folk, chanson, jazz/pop and traditional music for various projects and teaches at several music schools.
Ernst Poets has been a lecturer in piano and music theory at the JBK since 1993.
Career:
Fariwar Mamedsade was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1950. He received his first violin lessons at the age of six. Fariwar Mamedsade has been living and teaching in Germany since 1991, where he also regularly performs as a violin soloist. In 2024, his book "Alles im Griff. Violin school from the age of 6".
Fariwar Mamedsade has been a violin teacher at the JBK since 1996.
Career:
South Korean Hee-Jung Kim, born in 1985, came to Germany in 2011 to further her music studies at the Johannes Brahms Conservatory. Hee-Jung Kim has been a teacher at the Henstedt-Ulzburg Music School since 2015 and at the Wandsbek Hamburg Music School since 2018. She is also a member of the Hamburg State Youth Orchestra.
Hee-Jung Kim has been teaching violin, viola and piano at the JBK since 2021.
Career:
Hsiao-Meng Chou was born in Taiwan in 1989. She came to Germany in 2016 to deepen her studies in music theory at the Johannes Brahms Conservatory in Hamburg with the renowned lecturers Stephanie Daase and Dr. Peter Sabbagh.
Hsiao-Meng Chou has been passing on her enthusiasm and expertise in music theory to students at the JBK since 2021.
Career:
Irene Deutmeyer comes from Novosibirsk in Russia. She received her first piano lessons at the age of six. In addition to her concert activities, the pianist is also regularly involved in recordings for radio stations - including ARD, WDR, NDR, SWR, RTBF, VTR - as well as for the Japanese broadcaster NHK and for CD recordings.
Irene Deutmeyer has been a piano teacher at the JBK since 2017.
Career:
Irina Kolesnikova was born in Belarus and began her music studies there. After graduating, she worked for several years as a lecturer at the Minsk Academy of Music. The winner of several international competitions, she has performed in concerts in Germany, Denmark, France, Poland, Israel and Spain and has recorded various records and CDs. She has also been accompanist at numerous international competitions and master classes.
Irina Kolesnikova has been teaching piano and accompaniment at the JBK since 2002.
Career:
In addition to her performances as a soloist with internationally renowned orchestras, Jeanne Christée has already given several masterclasses in Europe and Mexico. She has taught as a guest professor at the St. Gellert Academy in Szeged, Hungary. Jeanne Christée has released several CDs and has been invited by European radio and television stations. Her highly acclaimed book "Violin technique, historical schools and methods of today" was also published in 2011.
Jeanne Christée has been a lecturer for violin and viola as well as didactics for strings at the JBK since 2010.
Career:
Ji Youn Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1980 and came to Germany in 2008, where she initially took violin lessons with Prof. Magdalena Rezler. Ji Youn Kim began working as a music teacher during her studies at the JBK. Today she teaches violin at two elementary school and at the Thomas Lass Music School in Ahrensburg. Ji Youn Kim has performed with various orchestras, including the Klassische Philharmonie NordWest, the KlassikPhilharmonie Hamburg and the CTS Korean Christian Channel TV Orchestra.
Ji Youn Kim has been a violin teacher at the JBK since 2015.
Career:
Born in Lithuania in 1964, Jolanta Busch began her studies at the music school in Memel in 1982, where she graduated as a choral conductor. After further studies at the Lithuanian Conservatory, she was engaged as a solo singer at the State Opera for nine years. She has also been a lecturer since 1995.
Jolanta Busch has been teaching singing at the JBK since 2011.
Career:
Michael Doumas began training his voice while studying American Studies. The bass then went on to study singing and honed his skills at master classes. Michael Doumas was a member of the Regensburg Theater and still performs regularly at the Alleetheater Hamburg, where he has appeared in "Vampire", "Barber of Seville", "Fledermaus", "Don Giovanni" and "Freischütz", among others. He has sung Wagner roles at the Tyrolean Festival Erl and oratorios by Schütz, Bach, Handel, Mozart and Haydn in various concerts. He devotes himself to German and Russian composers in recitals.
Michael Doumas has been teaching singing, vocal pedagogy and phonetics at the JBK since 2017.
Career:
Born in Hamburg, Mike Steurenthaler studied music and philosophy at the University of Hamburg. He has already conducted numerous orchestras in Germany and abroad, including the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, the Lüneburg Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo University Symphony Orchestra, the European Youth Music Week Orchestra and the KlassikPhilharmonie Hamburg. In addition to his orchestral work, he devotes himself to a wide-ranging repertoire of choral music.
Mike Steurenthaler has been training orchestral and choral conductors at the JBK since 2015.
Latest news
Piano summer course with Cord Garben from 26.7. to 30.7.2025.
You can find more information here
Background:
Naomi Yoshimura was born in Japan and received her first piano lessons at the age of six. After graduating from high school, she went to Germany to study music. She was a scholarship holder of the Rotary Club Altes Land, Buxtehude and Stade. Naomi Yoshimura is an exclusive Steinway artist and a member of the International Johannes Brahms Society.
In addition to her concert activities, the award-winning pianist has been teaching piano and accompaniment at the JBK since 2007.
Career:
The soprano Ovsanna Nalbandyan was born in Armenia in 1969 and studied concert, opera singing and vocal pedagogy. She has performed regularly as a soloist since 1995. Her repertoire includes operas, operettas, songs and folk songs.
Ovsanna Nalbandyan has been teaching singing at the JBK since 2007 and has already supported numerous young talents who are now successful in the music industry worldwide.
Career:
Born in Brazil, Paulo Gouveia came to Germany in 1989 on a scholarship from the Goethe-Institut. He studied with various solo flutists in Stuttgart and Hamburg, as well as in France. Paulo Gouveia works as a flautist and flute teacher in Germany, Italy, France, Hungary, Norway and Latin America. He also frequently gives workshops at universities there.
Paulo Gouveia has been training flautists at the JBK since 2008
Career:
Yingshui Zhang began her musical career in China and came to Germany in 2008 for further studies. She regularly gives masterclasses - including in the "Lang Lang Music World" of pianist Lang Lang - and is a sought-after juror at numerous Chinese and international music competitions, including the Asian Youth Piano Competition, the Beijing Piano Music Festival and the Vienna International Mozart Piano Competition; performances with Andrzej Jasiński and Bao Huiqiao, among others.
Yingshui Zhang has been a piano teacher at the JBK since 2016. Many of her students have won international competitions and have been admitted to renowned music academies and universities worldwide.
worldwide.
Career:
Born in Azerbaijan, Rakhilia Mamed-sade has lived in Germany since 1991. She was a lecturer at the Sängerakademie for two years and a part-time professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. She has been teaching at the Wandsbek Music School since 2003.
Rakhilia Mamed-sade has been teaching piano and accompaniment at the JBK since 1993.
Career:
Stephanie Daase, born in 1965, has been playing the piano since the age of eight. She has been a teacher since 1991. She works as a freelance piano teacher and performs regularly at home and abroad as a pianist, orchestral pianist and continuo instrumentalist. She also works as a répétiteur with many conductors, choirs, instrumentalists and singers.
Stephanie Daase has been teaching music theory, piano and the methodology and didactics of music theory and piano lessons at the JBK since 1991.
Career:
In addition to her work as a lecturer, Theresa Schnabel designs and conducts concerts for children and families. She was a JeKi teacher at pilot schools in Hamburg and is particularly committed to early childhood music education: she regularly offers music education courses at the Musikkindergarten Hamburg.
Theresa Schnabel has been teaching elementary music education and concert pedagogy / music education at the JBK since 2013.
Career:
Vera Borisova, born in 1956, comes from the Urals in Russia. As the first cast member of Carlotta Giudicelli, she appeared in Hamburg and Copenhagen in "The Phantom of the Opera". She toured numerous cities in the Soviet Union and Europe with "Music without Borders".
Vera Borisova has been a lecturer in singing and acting at the JBK since 2004. She also teaches in our opera workshop.
Career:
Vera Vasilyeva was born in Penza, Russia, and taught piano for many years at the Moscow State Music School, the Tallinn State Music School and the Tallinn Ballet Center at the State Opera. She also worked as a répétiteur at the Tallinn Ballet Center. She was also a ballet accompanist and pianist at the Pinneberg Ballet School and the Hamburg Ballet Center.
Wera Wassiljewa has been a piano teacher at the JBK since 2000.