Walter Seyfarth

Walter Seyfarth was born in 1953 in Dusseldorf. At the age of 16 he won the 1st prize of the German Tonkünstlerverband.

After studying with Peter Rieckhoff at the University of Music in Freiburg and being one of the first recipients of the Orchestra Academy of the Herbert v.Karajan Foundation of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (studied with Karl Leister) in 1972, he got his first engagement in the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1975.

In 1985 he became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker as a solo Eb clarinetist. From that time on he played under Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle and others.

In 1988 he founded the “Philharmonic Wind Quintet Berlin” with which he undertakes worldwide tours and has released numerous CD recordings on the label “BIS”. He also belongs to the ensemble “Bläser der Berliner Philharmoniker”, whose organizer he is.

As a lecturer he teaches at the Orchestral Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker and worked as a woodwind mentor for the Young Philharmonic Venezuela “El Sistema” from 2003-2011. He regularly gives masterclasses in Europe, Asia, North and South America. From 2012-2015 he appeared as a regular guest soloist at the festival “Música em Trancoso” (Brazil).

Among his ancestors include the composer Adalbert Lortzing (known by the opera “The Wildschütz”) and the composer Ferdinand Ries (a friend of L.v.Beethoven in his Bonn time)