1. Andreas has been the principal clarinettist with the Berliner Philharmonic since 2011. Alongside this position he has an impressive solo career and has performed with Vienna Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic, to name but a few.
2. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Andreas was the first ever solo clarinettist to be signed with the label. His 2015 album with the label Brahms – The Hungarian Connection gained him recognition with the coveted ECHO Klassik award for “Instrumentalist of the Year”.
Andreas Ottensamer (c) Dan Carabas
3. Born in Vienna, Andreas comes from a distinguished Austro-Hungarian family of musicians. He started playing the piano and then the cello, but switched to the clarinet at the age of fourteen. His late father, Ernst, was principal clarinet of the Vienna Staatsoper and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, while his brother Daniel is now co-principal clarinettist of the Vienna Philharmonic. In 2005, the father and sons founded the clarinet trio “The Clarinotts”.
4. For the 2017/18 season, Andreas was ‘Artist in Residence’ here at the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. During this time he performed his own debut performance of Hindemith’s concerto (which was written in the 1940s for the jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman) as well as Weber’s Concertino of 1811; his performance of the latter was described in the Fine Times Recorder as sailing ‘through its finger-popping and lung-bursting difficulties with insouciant and almost comic ease’.
5. Together with pianist José Gallardo, Andreas is artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland, a festival of chamber music. He is also artistic director of the Artström Festival in Berlin, a festival which combines arts, sports and culture.
See Andreas perform with us in our Orchestral Postcards concert on 21 April.
See our new season press release here
Listen to Andreas on spotify!