Albrecht Mayer

Born in Erlangen in 1965, Albrecht Mayer initially studied piano, recorder, and voice, singing with the Bamberg Cathedral Choir before taking up the oboe at the age of ten. His first teachers were Gerhard Scheuer and Georg Meerwein, followed later by Maurice Bourgue. In 1985, he began studying at the Hanover Academy of Music under Ingo Goritzki and won the German Music Academy Competition upon graduation. Mayer launched his professional career in 1990 as Principal Oboist of the Bamberg Symphony, transferring to the same position two years later with the Berliner Philharmoniker, which he continues to hold. Alongside his orchestral commitments, he is an internationally sought-after soloist, having collaborated regularly with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, and François-Xavier Roth. As a chamber musician, Mayer performs with artists including harpsichordist Vital Julian Frey, pianists Hélène Grimaud and Leif Ove Andsnes, and his own ensemble, New Seasons. He maintains a close partnership with the Berliner Barock Solisten, with whom he has toured extensively. Their most recent recording project, the album Bach Generations (2023), explores music from across the Bach family. His credo — to “play the oboe as singers sing” — is reflected in his transcriptions of arias by Handel and Bach, which are featured on his debut album as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. His recordings have received the Echo Klassik, German Record Critics’, and Opus Klassik Awards. Mayer plays instruments crafted by the Mönnig brothers and was awarded the E.T.A. Hoffmann Prize by the City of Bamberg in 2006. In 2011, he established the Albrecht Mayer Foundation, which supports research and treatment for retinal and optic nerve diseases. His autobiography, Klangwunder. Wie die Kraft der Musik mich geheilt hat, was published in 2022 and appeared in English in 2025 as The Wonder of Sound: How the Power of Music Healed Me.

July 2025