Felix Klieser - Horn

BIOGRAPHY

It is not talent, but holding on to your dreams against all odds that is the path to happiness.
– Felix Klieser

Felix Klieser has always been a problem solver who focuses on the art of the possible. Born without arms to a non-musical family, at the age of four he determined that he would learn to play the French horn. He took his first lessons at the age of five and became a junior student at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media at the age of thirteen. In 2014, he re­ceived the ECHO Klassik Award as Young Artist of the Year and also the Music Prize of the Association of German Concert Directors. His second book, Imagine It’s Not Possible – Yet Someone Does It Anyway, was published by Ullstein in the summer of 2024. He received the Leonard Bernstein Award at the 2016 Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

In the summer of 2022, he made his debut at the Ravenna Festival at the invitation of Maestro Riccardo Muti and the following year made his highly acclaimed debut at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, marking the conclusion of his two-year residency with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The concert was broadcast live on radio and television.

Last season he made debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, both conducted by Alexander Shelley, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under John Butt, the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra, and his first appearance in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He also returned to the Nuremberg Sym­phony and toured with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, appeared in re­nowned concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Cologne Philharmonie and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and played the world premiere of Rolf Martinsson's Soundscape, a work dedicated to him, with the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2024/2025 season include his debut with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, the Musikkollegium Winterthur under the baton of Anna-Maria Helsing, and with the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra under Hugo Ticciati in Stockholm. He will return to the Prague Symphony Orchestra for a tour and play several concerts with the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra. In December 2024, he will perform as a soloist at the official Advent concert of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In March 2019, Felix Klieser released his recording of the complete Mozart horn concertos with the Camerata Salzburg on Berlin Classics, which subsequently spent three months in the top 10 of the German classical music charts. His most recent album, A Golden Christ­mas, which was recorded together with the Wiener Concert-Verein, was released in Decem­ber 2023. His recording of the horn concerto Soundscape by Swedish composer Rolf Mar­tinsson is scheduled for spring 2025 and will also be released on Berlin Classics.

His debut album Reveries with works for horn and piano was released in 2013 and received the ECHO Klassik award. It was followed in 2015 by Horn Concertos, Klieser's first orchestral CD with works by Mozart and the brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn. This Album was recorded together with the WKO Heilbronn and Ruben Gazarian. His album Horn Trios, pro­duced by BR and released in 2017, features Felix with his chamber music partners, Andrej Bielow and Herbert Schuch, exploring Brahms’ profound Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano and lesser-known works for this exciting combination of instruments. His recording with CHAARTS Chamber Orchestra (Beyond Words with arias arranged for horn and orchestra) has been a huge digital success on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Orchestras that Felix Klieser has performed with in the past include the Camerata Salzburg as well as the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Orchestra Sinfonica Milano Giuseppe Verdi (Milan), the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, the Slovenska Filharmonija (Brati­slava), the Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Kammerakademie Potsdam.

He has also performed as a chamber musician at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, in the Philharmonie in Essen, in the Glocke in Bremen, the Beethovenhaus Bonn, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Felix Klieser likes to share his everyday life as an artist with his audience on social media and at concerts also gives them a peek behind the scenes. His horn “Alex”, a model 103 from the manufacturer Gebr. Alexander (Mainz), leads a life of its own on Instagram and Face­book and can be seen engaging in activities such as cooking, reading, and vacationing.

He regularly shares his expertise in the form of masterclasses.

Klieser must rank as one of the most inspiring figures on the concert scene today, and someone who will become a beacon for young people striving to overcome physical challenges to make music.
– The Times (London)

Status: September 2024