Albrecht Mayer

Albrecht Mayer is one of today’s most sought-after international oboists. The cantabile character of his style is explained by a musical training based on the voice: before he started to play the oboe at the age of ten, he had already been a member of the Bamberg Cathedral Choir for several years.

Albrecht Mayer studied with Gerhard Scheuer, Georg Meerwein, Ingo Goritzki, and Maurice Bourgue. He joined the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as solo oboist in 1990 and two years later was appointed solo oboist of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Since then, he has made countless international appearances, playing under such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He regularly plays with the Berliner Barock Solisten and can be heard in a solo role on many of their recordings. Mr. Mayer is also a member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and has collaborated with such musicians as Thomas Quasthoff, Matthias Goerne, and Leif Ove Andsnes.

His discography features recordings of oboe concertos by Strauss, Vaughan Williams, and Wolf-Ferrari, as well as the first recording of unknown Telemann works with the Berliner Barock Solisten (EMI Classics), which was awarded the Echo Classic Prize, and Bach’s Double Concerto, BWV 1060, which Mr. Mayer recorded together with the violinists Nigel Kennedy (EMI Classics) and Rainer Kussmaul (Koch/Universal).