Proclaimed by the New York Chronicle as the “king of his instrument”, Stefan Dohr is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest horn players.
In addition to being Principal Horn of the Berlin Philharmonic, Stefan has collaborated as a soloist with the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Dima Slobodeniuk, Gustavo Gimeno, John Storgårds, and Marc Albrecht. He has performed with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orquesta Nacional de España, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.
As well as performing the great Classical and Romantic works for horn, Stefan Dohr is continually expanding his instrument’s repertoire – commissioning and premiering new pieces by today’s foremost composers. In recent years, these included works by Herbert Willi, Jorge E. López, Johannes Wallmann, Dai Bo, Toshio Hosokawa and Wolfgang Rihm. Most recently, Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Hans Abrahamsen wrote a horn concerto for Stefan Dohr, which received its world premiere in Berlin in January 2020 as a joint commission from the Berlin Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
In the 2021/22 season, Dohr will perform with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Gürzenichorchester Köln under the baton of conductors such as Dima Slobodeniouk, Kazushi Ono, Karina Canellakis, Eva Ollikainen, Giordano Bellincampi and Frank Beermann.
A prolific chamber musician, Stefan is a permanent member of the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker Chamber Music Society, and the Philharmonisches Oktett Berlin. He has appeared at the Lucerne, Salzburg, Rheingau and Baden-Baden Festivals, and has performed alongside prominent artists such as Maurizio Pollini, Ian Bostridge, Lars Vogt, Kolja Blacher, Markus Becker, Guy Braunstein, Mark Padmore, and Kirill Gerstein.
Stefan’s extensive discography includes ‘The Yellow Shark’ with Ensemble Modern and Frank Zappa (Barking Pumpkin Records); Schumann’s ‘Konzertstück’ for Four Horns and Orchestra with Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (RCA Red Label); Toshio Hosokawa’s horn concerto ‘Moment of Blossoming’ with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Naxos); Music for horn and piano by Franz and Richard Strauss with Markus Becker (Campanella Musica); the Complete Mozart Horn Concertos with Camerata Schulz; and Weber’s Concertino for Horn and Orchestra with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester (both on the Camerata label).
Stefan studied in Essen and Cologne, starting his professional career at the age of 19 as Principal Horn of the Frankfurt Opera, during which time he also frequently appeared as a guest artist with Ensemble Modern. He held the position of Principal Horn in Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Festival Orchestras of Bayreuth and Lucerne before taking up his current post in 1993. A passionate teacher, Stefan is a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, the Sibelius Academy, and a permanent faculty member at the Herbert von Karajan Academy and the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin.
