Raphael Haeger
percussion, conductor
A genuine all-rounder: even as a percussionist with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Raphael Haeger has to have a command of many instruments. “Until a hundred years ago, percussionists were mainly responsible for sound effects or purely rhythmic additional elements. It was only in the 20th century that they gained a befitting place in the orchestra and in chamber music.” And if that wasn’t enough, Haeger is also a (jazz) pianist and conductor.
Raphael Haeger received his first percussion lessons at the age of four, but he also enjoyed playing other instruments, especially the piano. He completed his studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen. Afterwards, he was a percussionist in the orchestra of the Nationaltheater Mannheim for eleven years, where he also led the popular concert series [Jazz in der Oper] from the piano and invited guests such as Dave Brubeck, Paul Kuhn and Peter Herbolzheimer to the opera stage. In 2004, the versatile musician became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2012, he completed his conducting studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, and subsequently led the Leipziger Universitätsorchester until 2014. At the Easter Festival in Baden-Baden, Haeger regularly conducts children’s operas and large-scale chamber music programmes with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. For the silent film [Der Rosenkavalier], he presented the original music by Richard Strauss with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker – in Baden-Baden, at the Philharmonie Berlin and the Elbphilharmonie. Haeger, who has appeared as a guest conductor with the Orchestra Sinfonica do Paraná in Brazil, among others, is also the pianist of the Philharmoniker ensemble Bolero Berlin.
