Simon Höfele

BIOGRAPHY

Simon Höfele has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent trumpeters of his generation.

As a soloist Simon regularly performs internationally with leading orchestras including Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, among others.

Simon is the 2024/25 Artist in Residence of the Jenaer Philharmonie giving several performances across the season, which also sees him make his debut with Tapiola Sinfonietta under Ryan Bancroft and return to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker. Simon gives several additional performances around Germany including his return to Konzerthaus Berlin for a recital of solo works by Thomas Pfaffinger.

The 2023/24 season saw Simon debut with WDR Sinfonieorchester performing the German Premiere of Lisa Streich’s new trumpet concerto, which he also performed at the Lucerne Festival. Further debuts included Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, performing a piece both composed and conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

Simon Höfele has also worked with conductors such as Jonathan Bloxham, Semyon Bychkov, Alpesh Chauhan, Kevin John Edusei, Jonathon Heyward, Pietari Inkinen, Vladimir Jurowski, Joana Mallwitz, Andrew Manze, Enrico Onofri, Clemens Schuldt, Markus Stenz, Lorenzo Viotti, Duncan Ward, Kahchun Wong and many others.

A renowned chamber musician, Simon has performed in Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw, Grande Auditório da Gulbenkian, L’Auditori Barcelona, Müpa Budapest, Philharmonie Luxembourg, BOZAR, Elbphilharmonie, Prinzregententheater and Herkulessaal in Munich, as well as at the Cheltenham Music Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, MITO Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and Grafenegg Festival.

Simon has a longstanding duo partnership with pianist Elisabeth Brauß and has also worked with other partners including pianist Frank Dupree and the composer and pianist Kaan Bulak.

A committed advocate of contemporary music, Simon has had several works written for him, including ‘’Meduse’ (06/2024 WDR Sinfonieorchester and 08/24 Lucerne Festival) by Lisa Streich, ICAROS (12/2023 Luzerner

Sinfonieorchester) by Helena Winkelman, “Milky Way” (09/2019, Concertgebouw) and “Orion Arm” (05/2023, Philharmonie de Paris) by Miroslav Srnka, Konstantia Gourzi’s „Ypsilon, A Poem for Trumpet and Orchestra in five scenes“ (09/2021, Festival Grafenegg), “Three pieces for trumpet” and the ‘’Concertino for trumpet and orchestra’’ by Mark Simpson (04/2019, Saffron Hall and 05/2021 Duisburger Philharmoniker) and “Fantasy for Trumpet” by Kaan Bulak (04/2019, London). In addition, he regularly plays pieces by Toshio Hosokawa, Christian Jost and Matthias Pintscher, giving the première of the latter’s double concerto for two trumpets with Reinhold Friedrich and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in 2012. He also gave the German Premiere of Detlev Glanert’s Trumpet Concerto with Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg.

Simon Höfele is an exclusive Berlin Classics artist having just released new chamber music by Christian Jost written for Simon along with pianist, Frank Dupree and percussionist, Christoph Sietzen. His 2020 release “Standards” was awarded the OPUS KLASSIK 2020 prize concert recording of the year”. Featuring the trumpet concertos of Haydn, Hummel, Arutjunjan and Copland it was recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Duncan Ward. Simon’s follow-up albums “New Standards”, (4/2021) and “Nobody Knows” (05/2023) also received much praise in the press.

Since July 2023, Simon Höfele has been the host of the WDR3 podcast KLASSIK CRUSH, in which he talks every fortnight with other young artists about music, their lives as musicians and other topics that concern them and the podcast’s young target group. In addition to his musical projects, he is also involved in cultural politics and had founded the association “Kunstverlust” (Art Loss), for which he had portrayed people as a photographer who are actively committed to the preservation of art and culture.

A former BBC New Generation Artist and ECHO Rising Star, Simon teaches as a “Visiting Artist” at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and regularly gives masterclasses throughout Europe.

Calendar

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DiscographY

OFF STAGE

Without any doubt, Simon Höfele is one of the most prominent trumpeters of his generation. But he also pursues many passions outside of music. Explore Simon beyond the stage.

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