Masterclass Bassoon
Prof. David PetersenCourse repertoire: freely selectable
Master class, individual instruction
Audition training and orchestral excerpts
Preparation for “Jugend musiziert” 2027 (from age group III onwards)
Course start: Sunday, January 10, 2027, 6:00 PM
Course end: Friday, January 15, 2027, after breakfast
Participation Fees
Active participation including accommodation and meals
Regular price: €880.00
SUPER EARLY BIRD
€792.00 · 10% discount
when booking more than 6 months before the course starts
EARLY BIRD
€836.00 · 5% discount
when booking 4 to 6 months before the course starts
Further options for active and passive participation are available.
class
David Petersen received his first piano lessons at the age of eight. He studied bassoon at the Spezialschule für Musik Dresden and subsequently at the universities of music in Dresden, Berlin and Hanover with Bernhard Rose, Holger Straube and Klaus Thunemann. Since 1992, he has been Principal Bassoon of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
He is a founding member of the Gewandhaus Octet and the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s armonia Wind Ensemble, with which he has performed in Germany, Spain, Austria, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere. For ten years, he was also a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
For ten years, he was also a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.
As a sought after chamber musician, Petersen has appeared at numerous festivals throughout Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the United States. As a soloist, he has performed with ensembles and orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, working with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Sir Roger Norrington, Morten Schuldt Jensen and Reinhard Goebel.
His discography includes a solo recording of bassoon concertos by André Jolivet and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as a recording with the Leitzinger Bassoon Quartet on the querstand label.
In 2025, he released the album “Perfect Happiness” with pianist Lilit Grigoryan on Berlin Classics, featuring works by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Moscheles. The recording received several awards and was followed by concerts in Germany and Armenia.
Alongside his position with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, David Petersen has been Professor of Bassoon at the Rostock University of Music and Drama since 2021. Prior to this appointment, from 2001 onwards, he taught bassoon at the universities of music in Weimar, Frankfurt am Main and Mainz.
He also teaches bassoon at the Latina music high school in Halle and regularly gives masterclasses in Germany, Japan, Taiwan, China, Finland, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Ecuador, Spain and the United States. In the US, he was the first German bassoonist to teach at the renowned Glickman Popkin Bassoon Camp.
His graduates hold positions in orchestras throughout Germany and around the world and have won prizes at international competitions. His younger students are also regular prizewinners at Germany’s national Jugend musiziert competition.
David Petersen has served as a jury member at major competitions including the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the German Music Competition.