Thomas Mittler Appointed New Horn Player

Starting on October 1, Ensemble Modern will once again have a horn player. Following a selection process with several levels, Thomas Adrian Mittler, born in Frankfurt am Main in 2000, was chosen as a new member. After becoming a junior student of Will Sanders at the Karlsruhe Music Academy, he studied with Christian-Friedrich Dallmann at the Berlin University of the Arts, supported by a scholarship of the German National Merit Foundation since 2021. He previously studied with Tobias Mahl and Lucas Weinspach at the Mannheim Music School. He was a member of the State Youth Orchestras of Baden-Württemberg and Berlin as well as the German National Youth Orchestra. He also won various national and international competitions. Since September 2022, he has been a member of the Karajan Academy, the Berlin Philharmonic’s orchestral academy, having previously also been a member of the academy of the Komische Oper Berlin. Apart from his work as a horn player, his goal is to make music accessible for people of all ages. Thus, he has tutored numerous students preparing for music academy entrance exams and coached various amateur and school ensembles.

Thomas Mittler participated in the master course epoch_f of the International Ensemble Modern Academy in 2020, where he first worked with the members of Ensemble Modern. “We are delighted to have found such a superlative horn player,” says Uwe Dierksen, Ensemble Modern’s trombonist. The trumpet player Sava Stoianov adds: “We look forward greatly to this collaboration, and wish Thomas the best of luck with his new task!”

Thomas Mittler will be heard with members of Ensemble Modern on May 22 in a chamber music programme in the concert series “Open Ears” of the Friends of Ensemble Modern, which takes place at the Haus der Deutschen Ensemble Akademie. The programme includes Jörg Widmann’s “Air” for solo horn and his Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Piano, as well as Saed Haddad’s “Le Contredésir” for clarinet, horn and cello.

In June, Thomas Mittler will join Ensemble Modern at the 2024 “Xornadas de Música Contemporánea” in Santiago de Compostela; on June 5 he will perform with the Spanish National Youth Orchestra JONDE (Joven Orquesta Nacional de España) and Ensemble Modern under the baton of Pablo Rus Broseta, playing György Ligeti’s “Hamburg Concerto” for horn and orchestra. The concert is part of a master course project in which the members of Ensemble Modern coach the young JONDE members in contemporary music.