User:Gisbert K/Nicolai

de:Nicolai_Pfeffer

Nicolai Pfeffer (born 20 September 1985) is a German clarinettist, adjunct professor at several music conservatories and ordinary clarinet professor for the Artist Diploma and University Degree Programmes at the Talent Music Master Courses University of Music in Brescia, Italy.

Training as a clarinettist
Born in Fulda, Pfeffer began playing the clarinet at the age of 12. In 2004, he began clarinet studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he was accepted into the master class of Ralph Manno. In 2009 he completed his studies with the artistic maturity examination and two years later with the Master of Music, Solo and Chamber Music "with Honors". Further stations of his education were a guest study at the Indiana University Bloomington (US) with Howard Klug as well as numerous international master and chamber music courses, such as with Sabine Meyer, Sharon Kam, Anthony Spiri, Karl Leister, Alfred Prinz, Sir Alan Hacker and Charles Neidich.

Activity as soloist and chamber musician
Nicolai Pfeffer has performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Oper Köln, the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Bamberger Symphonikers. In summer 2018, he made his solo debut with Rossini's Clarinet Concerto in a specially produced Urtext edition with the La Scala Orchestra under Maestro Fabio Luisi. He has performed at Munich's Herkulessaal, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus and the Kölner Philharmonie, and has appeared at numerous festivals in Europe, the United States, South America and the Middle East.

Notable collaborations as a soloist with the Florence Orchestra della Toscana and with Markus Stenz. Two CDs have resulted from joint concerts.

As a passionate chamber musician, the artist regularly performs chamber concerts with prominent colleagues.

Repertoire
Nicolai Pfeffer devotes himself to a broad repertoire primarily from the classical and romantic periods, where possible oriented towards historical performance practice using historical instruments or replicas.

Activity as teacher
Pfeffer was or is a lecturer for clarinet, partly also for didactics and methodology, among others at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. From October 2022, he holds a clarinet professorship at the Talent Music Master Courses University of Music in Brescia, Italy. He also gives national and international master classes and lectures on musicology. Furthermore, he is juror of international clarinet competitions. Pfeffer's publications can be found in international journals such as "The Clarinet" and "Rohrblatt".

Activity as editor
Another area of Pfeffer's activity is the new edition of chamber music and concertante clarinet works. The previous editions are regarded as reference editions in international comparison. These editions as well as his own arrangements have been published by G. Henle Verlag, Breitkopf & Härtel and Edition Peters. He himself and many prominent colleagues have used these versions in their CD and radio productions. Pfeffer also makes special arrangements for leading colleagues such as Ralph Manno, Jonathan Cohler, Andrew Marriner, Gabor Varga, Pavel Vinnitsky, Sérgio Fernandes Pires, Anette Maiburg, Sebastian Manz, Guido Schiefen, Sabine Meyer, Andreas Ottensamer and the Signum Saxophone Quartet.

In the 2019/2020 season, Pfeffer-crafted orchestrations of Italian opera fantasias were premiered by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Israeli Raanana Symphonette. Further performances by other orchestras followed.

Pfeffer assists Henle-Verlag in publishing the publisher's clarinet repertoire and the company F. Arthur Uebel in the development and improvement of clarinets of German design.

Editions (selection)
Source:


 * Double Concerto in E minor for clarinet (or violin), viola and orchestra. opus 88 by Max Bruch. Frankfurt am Main: C.F. Peters 2010.
 * Trio in D minor for clarinet, (or violin), violoncello and piano op. 3 by Alexander Zemlinsky. Munich: Edition Diewa 2012.
 * Introduzione e Tema con Variazioni B flat major by Gioachino Rossini. Breitkopf & Härtel 2015.
 * Clarinet Concerto in F minor op. 5 by Bernhard Henrik Crusell. G. Henle Verlag 2014.
 * Clarinet Concerto in E flat major op. 1 by Bernhard Henrik Crusell. G. Henle Verlag 2016.
 * Clarinet Concerto in B flat major, op. 11 by Bernhard Henrik Crusell. G. Henle Verlag 2015.
 * Fantasia da concerto sopra motivi dell'opera "Rigoletto" di Giuseppe Verdi by Luigi Bassi. Pfefferkorn, Leipzig 2015, – piano reduction, voice -, critical new edition based on the sources.
 * Fantasiestücke by Niels Wilhelm Gade, G. Henle Verlag.
 * Eight Pieces op. 83 by Max Bruch, Edition Diewa
 * Clarinet Concerto in B flat major by Johann Stamitz, G. Henle Verlag
 * Rigoletto-Fantasy for clarinet, piano, clarinet and orchestra by Luigi Bassi, Breitkopf & Härtel (formerly by Pfefferkorn-Musikverlag)
 * Rigoletto-Fantasy for clarinet and string orchestra by Luigi Bassi, TRIO Musik Edition Nowotny & Lamprecht OHG
 * Duo in B minor by Johannes Brahms, TRIO Musik Edition

Discography

 * Johannes Brahms, Sonatas op. 120 – Piano Pieces op. 119, CAvI Music 2018 (with Felix Wahl, piano).
 * Affinità elettive / Elective affinities Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622, Rondo K. 373 (arr. Nicolai Pfeffer), Sperai vicino il lido K. 368 (arr. Andreas Tarkmann), Symphony No. 29 in A major KV 201; Nicolai Pfeffer, clarinet; Orchestra della Toscana; conductor Markus Stenz, NovAntiqua Records NA55 2021.