His first teacher was his father, who gave him his first violin lessons when Martin Stegner was eight. After studying with Roman Nodel at the Mannheim Musikhochschule, he switched to the viola and then went for training to Neithard Resa and Wilfried Strehle in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy. His first engagement was in 1993, as principal viola of Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. Three years later he moved to the Berliner Philharmoniker. Stegner appears in concert as a soloist and chamber-music player in Germany and abroad. He has been a jazz lover since his youth, and has played in various groups and at many festivals. In 2008 he founded the ensemble Bolero Berlin. Performed at the Festival in 2009.