Karl-Heinz Steffens
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Karl-Heinz Steffens was born in Trier, Germany. He started his clarinet studies when he was ten years old.
He has been a member of the Rhineland-Platz State Youth Orchestra and between 1982 and 1985 studied with professor Ulf Rodenhäuser at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart.
He started his professional career in 1984 when he was named first clarinetist of the State Theater in Kassel. Between 1985 and 1989 he was first clarinetist of the Frankfurt Opera and from 1989 to 1995 he held the same position with the Bavaria Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since April 2001 Karl-Heinz Steffens was named first clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
He has appeared as solo player with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Kurt Mansur, Sir Colin Davis and Jörg-Peter Wiegle. Many of his recordings are available in CD format. He has performed chamber music with Wolgang Sawallisch, Lorin Maazel, the Auryn Quartet, Fine Arts Quartet, Ysaÿe Quartet and the Leipzig Strings Quartet.
Karl-Heinz Steffens is regularly invited to music festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Salzburg Festival and Beirut Festival. From 1996 to 1999 he was professor at the Hannover Academy of Music and Theater, followed by a position of substitute professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimer. He has given many master classes; among them, in Weimer in 2001.
In the last half of the 2002-03 academic year he was named Clarinet Professor at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin.
Its possible to enjoy of some Steffens's master classes in Magister Musicae project.
