Christoph Hartmann

Live your dreams!' This is the credo of Christoph Hartmann. This oboist, born in Bavaria, plays music with enthusiasm, commitment, and joy, runs, and rides a bicycle. Thanks to these passions, he finds inspiration to realize his next dreams.

His parents supported and promoted his hobby. It was by chance that their son began to play the oboe, which was linked to the establishment of an oboe class at the local music school. From the first contact with this instrument, playing became Christoph's passion for life. Soon he enrolled at the Conservatory in Augsburg in Georg Fischer's class and then passed the entrance exam to study in Munich with Prof. Günther Passin. Even before completing his studies in 1991, he became a soloist in the oboe group at the Stuttgart Philharmonic, but just a year later, he passed the audition for the top-tier orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic.

Since then, Christoph Hartmann has joyfully realized himself musically in orchestral and chamber music, teaches at the Herbert von Karajan Academy, is a soloist, conducts masterclasses, and searches for unknown works for his instrument in many archives and libraries.

Christoph Hartmann's second passion is sports. He regularly participates in marathons, is a co-owner of a bicycle shop, and even developed his own brand of bicycles: 'Pasculli'. This name is a symbolic connection to Christoph's interests, as he discovered manuscripts of the oboe virtuoso Antonio Pasculli in one of the Italian libraries. Hartmann contributed to ensuring that these works would not be forgotten. The CD released in 2007 for EMI titled 'Fantasia Italiana' with operatic paraphrases by Pasculli achieved great success with critics and the public.

Another great passion of Christoph, in this case for chamber music, resulted in the creation of small exclusive summer festivals in his hometown. They have been held since 1999 in Landsberg. The concept of creating music at the highest level in a friendly atmosphere is so convincing that many distinguished musicians have already performed at these festivals. Moreover, from this collaboration, a permanent ensemble has developed: 'Ensemble Berlin'. With this ensemble, during an international tour, Christoph Hartmann presented his solo album 'Bella Napoli', which was released in April 2008.