Stefan Dohr

Stefan Dohr, widely regarded as an icon of his instrument and one of the world’s greatest horn players, is a celebrated soloist, chamber musician, and Principal Horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Praised with having both a “thunderous sound that resounds throughout a valley” (Berliner Zeitung) and a breathtakingly “delicate piano that sounds as if from afar” (Badische Zeitung), he delights audiences worldwide on all international concert stages. Dohr’s interpretations are always considered as influential, whether he is playing well-known works of horn repertoire or contemporary compositions. 

The 2024/25 season starts with a real highlight as Stefan Dohr makes his debut as a soloist at the BBC Proms, playing the UK premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Horn Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. This season he will also offer a variety of symphonic projects, masterclasses, and chamber music concerts as Artist in Residence of the Aalborg Symfoniorkester, including performing the premiere of Steingrímur Rohloff’s Horn Concerto in May 2025. Other highlights of the 2024/25 season include concerts with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, and Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Stefan Dohr has previously been a guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played under the baton of conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Harding, Gustavo Gimeno, Dima Slobodeniouk, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, John Storgårds, and Marc Albrecht.

Dohr’s virtuosity and thirst for discovery inspire many leading composers to dedicate new works to him and to explore the possibilities of his instrument; the horn concertos composed for him significantly expand the horn repertoire. In 2011, Toshio Hosokawa wrote the concerto “Moment of Blossoming”, which Dohr premiered with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle. In 2014, Wolfgang Rihm wrote a piece for him, which was first performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Danil Harding. Other composers who have written works for Stefan Dohr include Herbert Willi (2008), Jorge E. López (2009), Johannes Wallmann (2010), Dai Bo (2015), and Hans Abrahamsen (2020). Most recently, Jörg Widmann wrote a horn concerto for him, which had its world premiere in Berlin in May 2024 and was jointly commission by the Berliner Philharmoniker, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester.

In addition to his work as a soloist, Stefan Dohr is also a valued chamber music partner of artists such as Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, Maurizio Pollini, Kirill Gerstein, Kolja Blacher, Carolin Widmann, and Guy Braunstein. He is a member of the Ensemble Wien-Berlin and the Philharmonische Oktett Berlin. Stefan Dohr studied in Essen and Cologne and was Principal Horn with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, before taking up his current post as Prinicpal Horn of the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1993. As a passionate teacher, Stefan Dohr gives masterclasses worldwide and teaches as a guest professor at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Since 2015, he has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music London.