Teaching is not a job, it is not a profession that you do from 8am to 5pm; Teaching fills your whole life. To be there for students, to walk the path through their studies with them, to experience many highs - but also always lows - to master difficulties together, and then to celebrate successes, that is an activity that fills me up completely and that I approach every day with enthusiasm.

"The Folkwang idea of connecting the arts is a unique conception of art appreciation and art education: The arts work together in an interdisciplinary way - both in education and in practice. For over 80 years, the Folkwang University of the Arts has consciously oriented itself to social realities, so that the arts become a living factor in society through innovative and creative accents. 

It is the ambition of the Folkwang University of the Arts to educate personalities who are characterized by excellent artistic competence, a broad educational horizon and a high degree of individuality, creativity and social responsibility."

(Source: FUdK image brochure, 2012)

I am pleased to teach at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, because this university (by the way, the second largest university of art and music in Germany) stands in a unique way for both "classical" education (with the professional goal of becoming an orchestral musician) and for the greatest possible musical openness (keyword: musician of the 21st century). In November 2022 I was a speaker at the symposium "Musical-artistic education in times of changing professional fields" of the IEMA in Frankfurt.

My teaching is based on:

• solid fundamentals training (basics: warmup, scales, chords, vibrato, staccato, breathing, air control, posture)
• precise analysis of the student's strengths and weaknesses, coordinated program of necessary exercises and methods to build a stable technical framework
• challenging musical ideas, development and encouragement of the individual musical strengths of each student 
• precise interpretation of the great works of the bassoon literature (all style epochs up to the most current modernity)
• well-founded audition training (also in front of an audience) with precise analysis of the required works and orchestral excerpts
• weekly contrabassoon lessons with Laszlo Kerekes (Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra)
• weekly correpetition with Kledia Stefani
• weekly class auditions, internal technique performances, public concerts ("Folkwang Fagottissimo") with exercises for "stage wellness" / stress regulation
• regular reed making lessons
• bassoon ensemble playing
• master classes (for example with Hans Agreda, Sergio Azzolini, Fabio Cury, Dag Jensen, Georg Klütsch, Rebecca Mertens, Alfred Rinderspacher, Johannes Schwarz, Andrea Zucco)
• Possibility to learn period instruments (baroque bassoon and classical bassoon)
• Guidance for self-organization
• Honesty, openness, long-term vision, clarity

Successes

Students of the Essen bassoon class have played in the following orchestras so far:

Permanent positions and temporary contracts

WDR Funkhausorchester, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker / Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Beethoven-Orchester Bonn, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz, Philharmonie Zuidnederland (Eindhoven), Orchestra of the Latvian National Opera, Riga (Latvia), Duisburger Philharmoniker, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Opera, New Philharmonic Orchestra of Westphalia, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra (South Korea), North German Philharmonic Orchestra Rostock, Erzgebirgische Philharmonie Aue, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra (China), Niederrheinische Sinfoniker Mönchengladbach, Braunschweig State Orchestra


Academies/ Internships

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Academy, Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy, Munich Radio Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Joseph Joachim Academy of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, International Ensemble Modern Academy, Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra Herford, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, Theater Nordhausen/Loh Orchestra Sondershausen, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonic Orchestra Westphalia

Student Orchestra

Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Federal Youth Orchestra, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra, Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra

Substitute

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, KlangVerwaltung Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Munich Radio Orchestra, German State Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonic Orchestra Westphalia, Hanover State Opera, Folkwang Chamber Orchestra, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Bonn Classical Philharmonic Orchestra, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Studio MusikFabrik NRW

Scholarships

German National Academic Foundation, Villa Musica