Ni Fan and Lukas Böhm, Marimbas and Percussion

Lukas Böhm studied at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and with the Berlin Philharmonic as a scholar of the Karajan Academy. As one half of the percussion duo DoubleBeats, with Ni Fan, he won first prize at the 2018 Osaka International Music Competition in Japan and first prize at the 2017 Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium. The duo was also awarded the Ritter Prize by the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation in 2015. In addition, Böhm is a laureate of the International Competition of Timpani of Lyon and the Italy Percussion Competition. Concert tours and guest professorships have taken Böhm to Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and he has made several recordings. In 2018 he was made professor at the Academy of Music and Dance in Cologne, and a further appointment followed at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden in 2019. He has chamber music partnerships with Alexej Gerassimez and Li Biao and is a regular guest with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Ni Fan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber player and has played percussion concertos with numerous world class orchestras. She holds a teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and was appointed as distinguished professor at the China Conservatory of Music. In 2013 she became the first percussionist to be awarded the Prix Montblanc, and with her percussion partner Lukas Böhm she won first prizes at the 2017 Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium and Osaka International Music Competition in Japan. The duo, DoubleBeats, also received the 2015 Ritter Prize from the Oscar und Vera Ritter Foundation and are beneficiaries of Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now initiative. Fan studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She is a regular guest at the festivals such as the China-UK International Music Festival, PAS China International Percussion Festival, International Percussion Ensemble Week in Croatia, Cap Ferret Music Festival in France, Budapest Spring Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, International Mercedes-Benz Music Festival, and Kissinger Sommer festival.

Photo: Kaupo Kikkas