Anton Hekking

[a] Anton was taught first by his father, Gerard Hekking, who was himself a musician,[4] and then, starting at age 12, by Joseph Giese (1821–1903) at the Hague Conservatory.

[2][3][7] After a series of concert tours that included performances with the Russian pianist Anna Yesipova, in 1880 Hekking accepted the position of solo cellist with the Bilseschen Kapelle orchestra led by Benjamin Bilse in Berlin.

[2][3] In 1882, he was one of a group of 54 musicians who left Bilse in order to form the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where Hekking served as the principal cellist from 1882 until 1888.

[2][3] During this time he also toured Europe for fifteen months with the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe,[2][3] and was awarded the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau by William III of the Netherlands.

[22] The concerts were a critical and popular success, with as many as 14 sold-out performances in a single season,[4] and they continued until 1909 (although Schnabel was replaced by the American pianist Clarence Adler in 1907).