Stefan Dohr
Soloist
Stefan Dohr – blessed with a “thundering tone that resounds valley-wide” ([Berliner Zeitung]) – is an icon of the international horn scene as an acclaimed soloist, chamber musician and principal horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker. His virtuosity and love of the new have inspired many composers to write new works for him, exploring the possibilities of the horn in new ways.
Stefan Dohr studied in Essen and Cologne and was principal horn with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin before becoming principal horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1993. As an internationally sought-after soloist, he has appeared with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic orchestras in Oslo, Shanghai and Osaka, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He has worked with Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Sir Simon Rattle and Christian Thielemann, among others. In addition to the Classical and Romantic horn repertoire, Dohr has premiered many horn concertos dedicated to him, including those by Herbert Willi (2008), Toshio Hosokawa (2011), Wolfgang Rihm (2014), Dai Bo (2015) and Hans Abrahamsen (2020). Another focus is chamber music, which the musician pursues not only with his Philharmoniker colleagues in various ensembles such as the Ensemble Wien-Berlin and the Philharmonic Octet, but also with artists such as Mark Padmore, Maurizio Pollini, Kirill Gerstein, Kolja Blacher and Guy Braunstein. Stefan Dohr teaches at the Karajan Academy and holds master classes worldwide. He is also a visiting professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin and, since 2015, visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London.
