Johannes, Coco, Toby, Alex and Joe were sitting at a table on a late autumn evening in 2022 when they realized they were the right combination of instruments to play Schubert's String Quintet – undoubtedly one of the greatest works of chamber music – and so Ensemble Textura was born.
Each member has pursued a unique musical journey, achieving success in national and international competitions. They met through their shared studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. In recent years, they have also performed as academy members and guest musicians with leading international ensembles such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the DSO, and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
As an experimental string quintet, they also curate a wide range of projects with the aim of interpreting established works from the chamber music canon with meticulous attention to detail and a fresh perspective, whilst also looking beyond the confines of the standard repertoire. In Berlin, they have already tapped into a wealth of venues off the beaten track, including many art galleries such as Galerie Kremers, the Kewenig Warehouse, Galeria Plan B and the James-Simon-Galerie. They have also performed concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Piano Salon Christophori.
Hailed by critics and audiences alike, Japanese violinist Coco Tomita first gained recognition after winning the BBC Young Musician 2020 Strings Category. She was subsequently invited to record her debut album, ‘Origins’ with Orchid Classics, which received a succession of rave reviews from The Strad, Gramophone Magazine, BBC Music Magazine and The Guardian, among others, and was selected as ‘Disc of the month’ by Apple in April 2022. Coco has since received over 5.5 million streams on Apple Music alone and releases her follow up album ‘Echoes’ in September 2024. Last season Coco made her debut at Harrogate International Festival, St George’s Hall, Bristol and Dubai Opera. Based in London and Berlin, Coco recently completed a triumphant debut tour of Japan, highlights of which included her concerto debut with Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Masahiko Enkoji, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Axelrod at the Suntory Hall. She has also appeared as a soloist with London Mozart Players, Philharmonie Baden-Baden and Bath Philharmonia. Since 2021, she has been studying under the guidance of Professor Kolja Blacher at the Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin.
Johannes Ascher was born in Tuttlingen in 1998. From 2018 to 2025, he studied violin at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin with Prof. Ulf Wallin, and since 2025, he has studied baroque violin at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) with Prof. Mayumi Hirasaki. He has participated in masterclasses with, among others, Mauricio Fuks, Ana Chumachenco, Gunhild Ott, and Boris Kusnezow. During his school years, he won numerous prizes at the "Jugend musiziert" competition as a flautist and violinist, most recently in 2016 a first prize at the national level with the highest score in the "Solo Violin" category, along with a special prize from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and the special prize from the Freunde junger Musiker München. His passion for chamber music leads him to numerous projects in various ensembles, as well as to renowned festivals. He has performed at the Ludwigsburger Festspiele, the Starnberger Musiktage, theRottweil Musikfestival Sommersprossen, and as an academy member at the Zermatt Music Festival. Through Baroque courses with Bernhard Forck and Raphael Alpermann at the Berlin University of the Arts, he discovered his passion for the historically informed performance practice of early music. He received important inspiration from Veronika Skuplik at the masterclass of the European Hanseatic Ensemble, the Ensemble Academy of the Freiburger Barockorchester, and the Bremen Musikfest Atelier with Vox Luminis and Giovanni Antonini. He performs with various ensembles specializing in early music, including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
Toby Cook performs internationally as a chamber musician and soloist, recently including at Kings Place London, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Philharmonie Berlin. He is a Hattori Foundation and Villa Musica artist, winner of the Małopolska competition, the Barbirolli Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Len Lickorish Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League International Strings Competition. Toby currently studies with Lawrence Power at the Zurich University of Arts. He studied his Masters degree with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, and Bachelors with Juan-Miguel Hernandez and Garfield Jackson at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he began in the Primary and Junior Royal Academy departments with Jacky Woods and Clare Thompson as a young boy. Alongside his studies he has had the pleasure to receive masterclasses from artists including Ettore Causa, Pekka Kuusisto and Nobuko Imai. He has also enjoyed collaborating with composers including Garth Knox, Vasilis Alevizos and Thomas Jones on their new works, with performances in London and at the Agora Music Festival in Luxembourg. An avid chamber musician, Toby is a founding member of Ensemble Textura, a Berlin-based experimental string ensemble who aim to bring a fresh perspective to well-known chamber music works, as well as explore unknown repertoire and folk music. He plays regularly with the Seida and 12 ensembles, and has performed alongside musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and clarinettist Matthew Hunt at HellensMusic festival, Tabea Zimmermann at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Gary Hoffman and Antje Weithaas at Kronberg Academy’s ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’, Claudio Martínez Mehner and Christoph Poppen in Santander, and with members of the ARC ensemble at the Music of Exile Festival in Toronto, Canada. He also regularly participates in the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall. Toby is also very passionate about teaching and is a member of the European String Teachers’ Association, with whom he performed at conferences at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and in Valletta, Europe’s cultural capital in 2018.
Alexander Wollheim (born in Berlin in 2000) received his first cello lessons from Wayne Foster-Smith. From 2017 to 2022, he studied in Danjulo Ishizaka’s class at the Berlin University of the Arts; since 2022, he has been studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music under Nicolas Altstaedt and Troels Svane. Since 2025, he has been continuing his studies there for his concert exam. To complement his musical training, Alexander attended masterclasses with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Gustav Rivinius, Jens Peter Maintz and Maximilian Hornung. He also gained valuable insights through chamber music lessons with personalities such as Tabea Zimmermann, Eberhard Feltz and the members of the Artemis Quartet. Alexander is a passionate chamber musician and performs as part of Ensemble Textura, Trio Aeonas and the 2Cities Cello Quartet. In December 2022, he recorded chamber music by the Swedish composer Allan Pettersson with the violinist Ulf Wallin for the BIS label. In October 2019, Alexander shared second prize with Benjamin Kruithof at the 14th Gabrielli Competition at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). At the 2023 German Music Competition, he received a scholarship and a special prize from the German Music Foundation. Since 2019, Alexander has been supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Berlin e.V. From 2021 to 2023, he was a fellow at the Ferenc Fricsay Academy of the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, and subsequently, from 2023 to 2025, a member of the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. Alexander plays a cello made by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2019.
British cellist Joe Pritchard began his training at Wells Cathedral School and the Yehudi Menuhin School. A former finalist in the string category of BBC Young Musician, he has been awarded the Raphael Summer Scholarship, the Elias Fawcett Prize at the Royal Over-Seas League competition, and first prize at the Two Moors Festival, as well as receiving special recognition at the Pau Casals Award 2020. Joe was principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and has performed as a chamber musician in venues such as Wigmore Hall, King’s Place, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He has taken part in masterclasses at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival String Academy, Chamberlab Montecastelli, and IMS Prussia Cove, receiving coaching from the likes of Steven Isserlis, Ivan Monighetti, Gary Hoffman, Giovanni Antonini, and Anner Bylsma. Recent festival highlights include appearances at the Hamburg Chamber Music Festival, the Hostelbro Festival, Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove and as a member of the Festivalcampus at the Heidelberger Frühling 2025 and 2026. He will also be an active participant at the 2026 Verbier Festival Academy masterclasses, as a guest member of inn.wien ensemble. As a soloist, he has performed in the United Kingdom with the Orion Orchestra, the Giovane Ensemble, the Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra, and the Dorking Chamber Orchestra. In the last years, he made his concerto debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus with Capella Amadeus. Joe has appeared as a guest cellist with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, and plays regularly with O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra. He is also active as a baroque cellist, and is part of the “New Ensemblists” Scheme of baroque orchestra ARCANGELO in the 2026-28 seasons. He recently completed his bachelor’s degree studying with Nicolas Altstaedt at the “Hanns Eisler” School of Music in Berlin, where he frequently performed as principal cellist of both the symphony and chamber orchestras. Joe has a strong passion for improvisation, folk music and jazz, and often arranges works for strings.
