Albrecht Mayer

Albrecht Mayer's first musical experiences were as a member of the cathedral choir in his hometown of Bamberg, and perhaps the warm, lyrical character of his oboe playing has its roots there. His musicianship consistently garners the highest praise: there is talk of "divine sparks," of the "miraculous oboe," or of Mayer elevating the oboe "to an instrument of seduction." Albrecht Mayer began his professional career in 1990 as principal oboist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Since 1992, he has held the same position with the Berlin Philharmonic, and in parallel, he increasingly made a name for himself as a concert soloist. He is now one of the most sought-after oboists of our time. As a soloist, he has worked with great conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, and François-Xavier Roth. In 2007, he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and he is also an enthusiastic chamber musician, collaborating with partners such as Vital Julian Frey, Hélène Grimaud, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Lars Vogt. In 2006, Mayer received the Bamberg E.T.A.-Hoffmann Cultural Prize, in 2013 he was inducted into Gramophone magazine's "Hall of Fame" and also received the Bavarian Cultural Prize. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik three times, twice as Instrumentalist of the Year, and his album Mozart won the Opus Klassik for Concert Recording of the Year 2022. Mayer's successful autobiography, Klangwunder: Wie die Kraft der Musik mich geheilt hat (Sound Wonder: How the Power of Music Healed Me), co-written with journalist Heidi Friedrich, was published in September 2022. Always in search of new repertoire, Albrecht Mayer also readily lends his oboe voice to works for other instruments, with the human voice, the "most natural" of all instruments, particularly fascinating him. His first DG album, Lieder ohne Worte – Bach-Transkriptionen für Oboe und Orchester (Songs Without Words – Bach Transcriptions for Oboe and Orchestra), reached number 2 on the German classical charts. The album New Seasons even entered the German pop charts – it presents Handel in an astonishingly new light, as vocal lines from operas and oratorios are entrusted to the oboe – and his release Auf Mozarts Spuren (In Mozart's Footsteps) with Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra topped the German classical charts. In Venedig (In Venice) focused on Venetian Baroque composers. This was followed by the album Bach with works by J. S. Bach for oboe, choir, and orchestra; the project Drums ’n’ Chant with Austrian percussionist Martin Grubinger; Bonjour Paris with works by Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Fauré, D’Indy, and Françaix; Schilflieder (Reed Songs) with romantic treasures; and Let It Snow! with the King’s Singers. In 2015, the album Lost and Found was released, featuring four little-known oboe and English horn concertos from the Viennese Classical period, with Mayer as soloist and conductor of the Kammerakademie Potsdam. On Tesori d’Italia (Treasures of Italy), released in 2017, Mayer, together with I Musici di Roma, performed the popular Oboe Concerto in C major RV 450 by Vivaldi alongside long-lost concertos by Giuseppe Sammartini, Domenico Elmi, and Giovanni Alberto Ristori. The album Longing for Paradise, released in 2019 with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jakub Hrůša, offers music for oboe and orchestra by Elgar, Strauss, Ravel, and Goossens. The works are united by their composers' experience of loss and war – past, present, or impending – and a longing for beauty in the face of tragedy. The album Mozart – described by the Wiener Zeitung as a "feast for the ears" – released in April 2021, expresses the oboist's lifelong love for the Salzburg composer's work. Mayer's recording with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and harpsichordist Vital Julian Frey includes six arrangements for oboe, oboe d'amore, or English horn, as well as a specially commissioned completed version of the fragmentary Oboe Concerto in F major KV 293 (416f). An extended edition of Mozart, containing six additional pieces (including three transcriptions of arias from The Magic Flute), was released in November 2021. In his latest album, Mayer dedicates himself to the uniquely gifted Bach family. The recording with the Berlin Baroque Soloists and Gottfried von der Goltz (solo violin/concertmaster) includes works by Johann Sebastian, Johann Christoph, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach. Bach Generations will be released in August 2023. Recent highlights of his touring calendar include appearances at the Hitzacker Music Week 2023, where he will conclude his artistic directorship at the end of this season; performances of Peter Ruzicka's Aulodie in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under the composer's direction; and a gala concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra as part of the Leipzig "Bach300" Festival, celebrating J. S. Bach's appointment as Thomaskantor 300 years ago. Also planned are a chamber music recital with friends at the Edinburgh Festival 2023, featuring works by Mozart, Britten, Goossens, and Moeran (August); an appearance at the Seoul Arts Center with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra and David Reiland (October); repertoire from Bach Generations in a series of concerts with the Berlin Baroque Soloists in Frankfurt, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Hamburg, Cologne, Regensburg, Munich, and Berlin (December). In addition to his many musical commitments, he founded the Albrecht Mayer Foundation, whose goal is to support projects for research and therapy of retinal and optic nerve diseases. "Of course, as a musician, hearing is an essential part of my life," he explains. "It is precisely from this awareness of the irreplaceable importance of the senses of perception for us humans that it is completely unimaginable for me to have to live with very limited vision or even without my eyesight at all!" Albrecht Mayer plays an oboe and an oboe d'amore by the German instrument makers Gebrüder Mönnig. August 2023