Raymond Curfs

Born in the Netherlands, Raymond Curfs studied percussion and timpani in Maastricht, Cologne, and Berlin with Werner Otten, Georg Breier, and Rainer Seegers. He launched his career with the Noord Nederlands Orkest in Groningen and joined the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra before being engaged by the Bavarian State Orchestra in 1999. In 2000, he also became a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, where he remained until 2006. Since 2007, he has been Principal Timpanist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. A member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since its inception in 2003, Curfs has taught at the conservatories of Maastricht and Paris and was appointed to a professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich in 2013. As a chamber musician, he has partnered with colleagues including Natalia Gutman, Katia and Marielle Labèque, and ­Peter Sadlo; he regularly gives solo recitals and is a juror at international competitions.

July 2025