© Marian Lenhard

Founded in 2010 by four graduates of the French horn class of Christian Lampert at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart, german hornsound has earned a strong international reputation based on its exceptional profile. With their new concert formats and creative program concepts the could debut at nearly all music festivals in German-speaking Europe over the past years.

The ensemble’s repertoire spans all the periods of music history, including original compositions and arrangements. However, german hornsound has made a special name for itself by developing unique projects of its own.

The first CD production Siegfried und Violetta (2013), a three-act opera fragment with music of Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner which was developed together with South Tyrolese writer Herbert Rosendorfer (†2012) and Berlin-based opera dramaturg Karl Dietrich Gräwe (†2019) paved the way to the concert stages. Their project Pictures (2015) with Russian music around Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition had premiere in the Elbphilharmonie in 2019. Furthermore there is a good and long musical connection with the vocal ensemble amarcord from Leipzig. After the first CoProduction Wald.Horn.Lied (2016) they performed several concerts at several festivals and did a Christmas Tour together in 2019. The quartet programme #hornlikes (2018), where german hornsound actively involves the audience, rounds off their chamber musical profile. Their newest program Primetime in der Wolfsschlucht with music around Webers Freischütz takes the audience along a humorous journey into the past, all packaged in an entertaining show. In late 2022 the production Heimat together with world famous singer Daniel Behle has been released as well.

As soloists the quartet appears periodically on the big international stages and halls with renowned orchestras. They performed Schumann’s famous Concert Piece with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under the baton of Michael Sanderling, Jonathan Nott, and Paavo Järvi, just to name a few. Contemporary music is also one of the things german hornsound cares a lot about. After a commission to Norwegian composer Trygve Madsen (2013) they could convince well-known Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür to compose a new piece for four horns and orchestra in 2022 which has been premiered Bochum Symphony Orchestra and will also be heard together with Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra.

The four horn players have positions in professional orchestras: the Düsseldorf Symphony, the Hanover State Opera House, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, and the Bamberg Symphony.

Besides their concert activities, german hornsound focuses on youth development and young talents. They performed education programs in the Philharmonie Luxemburg as well as in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. They founded the GHS academy which offers workshops and masterclass for all levels of horn playing: for young beginners, for soloists and ensembles participating the german youth competition ‘Jugend musiziert’, for students, professionals and ambitioning hobby hornists. They are launching the GHS edition at koebl.de where most of their Arrangements are published. Around Christmas 2021 they released Volume 1 of their new collection ‘the books’— nice and easy to play horn quartets for any occasion. More Volumes have been released in 2022. The ensemble produces their productions, physically and digitally under their own ‘GHS records’ label.