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 The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet was founded in 1988 and is the first permanently established wind quintet in the Berlin Philharmonic's rich tradition of chamber music. The notable success of the ensemble's Berlin début immediately spawned further engagements, not only in Berlin and Germany but also resulted in tours of numerous other European countries. The ensemble has since undertaken tours to the United States, South America, Israel, Japan and the Far East and performs frequently at renowned festivals such as those in Berlin and Salzburg. Their television productions and radio broadcasts are seen and heard throughout Europe and North America and their CD recordings on the BIS label have received critical accolades world wide.
INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES
WALTER SEYFARTH, clarinet, hails from Dusseldorf and made his mark early as first prize winner at the 1968 "Deutsche Tonkunstler Verband" competition. He studied with Peter Rieckhoff at the Freiburg "Music Hochschule", and later, as a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra-Academy, with Karl Leister. From 1975 to 1985 he was a member of the Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra, after which he was appointed to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been on the teaching faculty of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and his solo and chamber music appearances have taken him to many countries around the world.
MICHAEL HASEL, flute, a native of Hofheim in the Taunus region, originally studied piano and organ, completing a degree in Church Music. He studied the flute, his first love, with Herbert Grimm in Mainz, Willy Schmidt in Frankfurt and Aurele Nicolet in Freiburg. From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as its Wind Quintet. He appears with the Bayreuth Wagner Festival Orchestra, and is active as a chamber musician and soloist throughout Europe and Japan. He has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 1984. He is also Professor of Wind Chamber Music at the Heidelberg-Mannheim Hochschule of Music.
ANDREAS WITTMANN, oboe, was born in Munich. He won first prize at the "Jugend Musiziert" in 1977. Subsequently, he studied at the Munich "Music Hochschule" with Manfred Clement and at the Berlin "Hochschule" with Hansjorg Schellenberger. Directly upon graduation in 1985 he was accepted into the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra-Academy and, only a year later, was appointed to membership in the orchestra itself. He is also a member of the "Winds of the Berlin Philharmonic" and is internationally active as a soloist and chamber musician.
FERGUS McWILLIAM, horn, was born in the Scottish Highlands and studied principally in Canada, Holland and Sweden. After a solo concert at the age of 15 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, he later played, during and after his studies, with many Canadian orchestras and chamber ensembles. He has also taught at two Canadian universities. A former member of the Detroit Symphony and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestras before his 1985 engagement by the Berlin Philharmonic, his chamber music, solo, and teaching activities have taken him throughout Europe, North America and the Far East.
HENNING TROG, bassoon, was born in Peine, Lower Saxony. He studied church music initially, later taking up bassoon studies with Herbert Tauscher in Hanover and Albert Hennige in Detmold. While still a student he made many tours and recordings with the renowned ensembles "Deutsche Bachsolisten" and "Detmold Blaserkreis". Since joining the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1965, he has maintained his extensive chamber music and solo activities, with, for example, membership in the "Winds of the Berlin Philharmonic". He has taught at Japan's Kusatsu International Summer Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy.
JON NAKAMATSU, piano
A native of California, Jon Nakamatsu claimed a distinguished place on the international musical scene in June, 1997 when named the Gold Medalist of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the only American to have achieved this distinction since 1981. A former high school German teacher, he became a popular hero overnight in the highly traditional medium of classical music.
Following a summer that included returns to San Francisco's Midsummer Mozart Festival, Connecticut's famed "Summer Music at Harkness" festival and Colorado's Strings in the Mountains and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival for another performance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Jon Nakamatsu's current season is highlighted by return engagements with the Dallas, Eugene and Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestras and the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as performances with Florida's Atlantic Classical Orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the Delaware, Santa Cruz, Springfield (Ohio) and Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestras, and Los Angeles' Asia America Symphony Orchestra. His solo recital appearances take him from New York City to the Hawaiian Islands, while chamber music collaborations include a joint-recital with clarinetist Jon Manasse in Boston, a debut with the Prazak Quartet and more appearances with the Ives Quartet. Of special significance are two prestigious international debuts: A performance with Kazuyoshi Akiyama and The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and a recital on the new "Sandvika Master Series" mark Mr. Nakamatsu's first appearances in Japan and Norway, respectively. Summer, 2005 includes debuts at the Brevard Music Festival and Sun Valley Summer Symphony as well as a return to the Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival.
During the summer of 1997, Jon Nakamatsu replaced Vladimir Ashkenazy in Sno Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as soloist with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and performed at Tanglewood with the Boston Pops, the Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany and the Montpellier Festival in France. Since then, he has also appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and The New World Symphony, as well as the orchestras of Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Dayton, Detroit, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Naples, New Mexico, Rochester, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Syracuse, Toledo and Utah. Abroad, he has been heard as soloist with Italy's famed Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Berlin's Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra and Santo Domingo's Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional. Mr. Nakamatsu has collaborated with many of today's leading conductors, among them George Cleve, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Grant Cooper, Leslie B. Dunner, Philippe Entremont, Neal Gittleman, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marek Janowski, Michael Lankester, Peter Leonard, Raymond Leppard, Jahja Ling, Keith Lockhart, David Lockington, Christof Perick, Larry Rachleff, Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, Peter Rubardt, Matthew Savery, Alfred Savia, Carl St. Clair, Christopher Seaman, Stanislaw Skrowaczeski, Markand Thakar, Michael Tilson Thomas, Hans Vonk and Samuel Wong. His 1998-99 season was highlighted by a White House performance of Rhapsody in Blue, hosted by President and Mrs. Clinton.
Jon Nakamatsu's extensive recital tours throughout the United States and Europe have featured debuts in New York City (Carnegie Hall), Washington, DC (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Paris, London and Milan. The recipient of the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for his semifinal round chamber music performances at the Cliburn competition, he has subsequently collaborated with various chamber ensembles, among them the Brentano, Ives, Manhattan, Miami, St. Lawrence, Tokyo and Ying String Quartets. In both 2000 and 2002, he toured the United States with the Berlin Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet.
In July 1999, Jon Nakamatsu made his debut at France's Evian Music Festival and, one year later, he returned to the Tanglewood Music Festival, the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Festival Casals de Puerto Rico, performing with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Carl St. Clair, and at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Tacoma International Music Festival, Lincoln's Meadowlark Music Festival, New York's Skaneateles Festival and California's Midsummer Mozart Festival.
Named Debut Artist of the Year (1998) by NPR's "Performance Today," Jon Nakamatsu has been profiled by "CBS Sunday Morning" and Reader's Digest magazine, and is featured in "Playing with Fire," a documentary about the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, aired nationwide on PBS. Earlier, in 1995, he was named the First Prize winner of Miami's Fifth United States Chopin Piano Competition. He records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa, which has released six CDs, including an orchestral album containing performances of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with Christopher Seaman and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as albums devoted to the music of Chopin, Foss and Wölfl. Mr. Nakamatsu's most recent release encompasses Brahms's Sonata No. 3, Op. 5, 7 Fantasies, Op. 116 and 4 Piano Pieces, Op. 119.
Jon Nakamatsu has studied privately with Marina Derryberry since the age of six, has worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and studied composition and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. In addition, he has pursued extensive studies in chamber music and musicology. Mr. Nakamatsu is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in German Studies and a master's degree in Education.
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