Milan Boxberg (*2005 in Frechen) discovered his passion for the largest string instrument at the age of six in the string class of his elementary school.
For eight years, he was taught by his dedicated teacher, Uli Schneider, at the municipal music school in Langenfeld. At just seven years old, Milan attended his first international double bass course, followed by numerous other courses both in Germany and abroad. Even during elementary school, he received lessons from renowned double bass soloists such as Szymon Marciniak, Thierry Barbé, and Boguslav Furtok.
At the age of fourteen, Milan passed the entrance exam for the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf and has been studying in the class of Prof. Rick Stotijn ever since—initially in the pre-college program and, since 2023, as a bachelor’s student. He has also gained further artistic inspiration from masterclasses with Dorin Marc, Luis Cabrera, Alberto Bocini, Théotime Voisin, Gary Karr, and Dominik Wagner.
Milan made his successful solo debut in 2023 when he performed Giovanni Bottesini’s Concerto in B minor with the Bergische Symphoniker in three concerts.
Copyright: Stefan Pieper
He appreciates the versatility of the double bass and, in addition to his solo activities, is also a passionate orchestral and chamber musician. Moreover, he has already participated in a musical theater production.
At just ten years old, Milan played in the NRW selection orchestra KiO. Later, he became section leader of the State Youth Orchestra of North Rhine-Westphalia and served as principal bassist of the National Youth Orchestra of Germany from 2022 to 2025. There, he gained valuable artistic experience working with Kirill Petrenko, Tabea Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, Antje Weithaas, Maximilian Hornung, and others.
Milan has performed in renowned concert halls, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Golden Hall of the Musikverein Vienna, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and the Berlin Philharmonie.
At the “Jugend musiziert” competition, Milan won first prize at the national level with the highest score twice (in 2019 and 2022) and was awarded the special prize of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. In 2019, he also received the Edgar Auer Special Prize for Double Bass Solo, the Sparkasse Sponsorship Award of Kreis Mettmann, and the Wuppertal Youth Culture Prize. Since 2019, Milan has been a scholarship holder of the of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and plays a double bass from the German Musical Instrument Fund.