Walter Seyfarth
Walter Seyfarth
Clarinet
The music teacher at his high school introduced the clarinet in class. Walter Seyfarth, then only twelve years old, was so fascinated by its sound that he immediately signed up for lessons. At the age of 16, he won first prize at the German Tonkünstler Association competition. Later, he studied with Peter Rieckhoff at the University of Music Freiburg, and then with Karl Leister as one of the first scholarship holders at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1975, he joined the Symphony Orchestra of the Saarland Radio, and in 1985, he became the solo E-flat clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Three years later, he founded the Philharmonic Wind Quintet, with whom he has undertaken worldwide tours and released numerous CD recordings. As a teacher, Walter Seyfarth is active at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, with international youth orchestras, and as part of master classes. From 2003 to 2011, he was woodwind mentor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Juventud Venezolana Simón Bolívar. Between 2012 and 2015, Walter Seyfarth, who counts composers Albert Lortzing and Ferdinand Ries among his forebears, appeared as a regular guest soloist at the Brazilian festival Música em Trancoso.