Trumpet
Bernhard Plagg
Bernhard Plagg was born in 1989 in Mals, where he began his musical education in the local brass band and with his first trumpet teacher, Anton Stecher. He continued his trumpet studies with Lothar Hilbrand at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory in Feldkirch, graduating in 2011 with highest honors. He then enrolled in a master’s program at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in the class of Prof. Hans Gansch and Prof. Andreas Öttl, followed by a second master’s degree at the Berlin University of the Arts under the mentorship of Prof. Gábor Tarkövi.
During the 2012/13 season, he was a trainee with the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and a member of the orchestral academy of the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. He gained valuable international concert and orchestral experience on five European tours with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, where he frequently performed as principal trumpet.
From August to December 2013, he served as principal trumpet of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. In January 2014, he rejoined the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg – Staatstheater, this time as second trumpet. For the 2016/17 season, he moved to the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, where he held the position of second trumpet and assistant principal trumpet. Since the 2022/23 season, Bernhard Plagg has served as principal trumpet of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
As a guest musician, he has collaborated with numerous renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra.
He has been developing his passion for pedagogy since the winter semester of 2020, when he began teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts in the class of Gábor Tarkövi.