Univ.-Prof.
Andreas Martin Hofmeir
Andreas Martin Hofmeir is not only one of the most talented but also one of the most versatile instrumentalists of our time, crossing boundaries between numerous genres. He holds a professorship at the Mozarteum University, is a multiple award-winning cabaret artist (including the Passauer Scharfrichterbeil), and in 2013 became the first tuba player to receive an ECHO Klassik for Instrumentalist of the Year. He is in demand as a soloist and chamber musician and gives masterclasses worldwide.
Andreas Hofmeir (b. 1978 in Munich) found his way to the tuba at the age of twelve via piano, drums and tenor horn. After taking lessons with Robert Tucci (Bavarian State Opera), he studied in Berlin (Dietrich Unkrodt), Stockholm (Michael Lind) and Hanover (Jens Björn-Larsen). In 2004 he won the renowned international tuba competition "Citta di Porcia" in Pordenone (Italy) and in 2005 the Deutscher Musikwettberb in Berlin – the first tuba player in the history of the competition to do so. He received scholarships from the orchestra academies of the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics and played with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orchestra. From 2004 to 2008 he was principal tuba in the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under Dennis Russell Davies.
As a soloist he has performed with the SWR Radio Orchestra in Kaiserslautern, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz, the Lower Saxony State Orchestra in Hanover, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra in Heilbronn, the Western Pomeranian Philharmonic, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic, the Salzburg Wind Philharmonic and the Young Philharmonic Salzburg. In October 2013 he played with the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin (live on ZDF), in March 2014 he made his solo debut with the Munich Philharmonic.
With the harpist Andreas Mildner he founded the world's first tuba-harp duo and has given concerts at well-known festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Central Europe Festival, the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival and the International Harp Festival in Rio de Janeiro. As a chamber musician, he also played with the Sharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, the brass quintets of the Munich Philharmonic and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and the Heavy Tuba Ensemble.
Alongside his work as a classical musician, Hofmeir has also been active as a cabaret artist for the past thirteen years. He performed in—and wrote the texts for—the musical cabaret programme Star Fous – Die Musik schlägt zurück and for the spoken-word cabaret ensemble Die Qualkommission, with whom he was awarded the Passauer Scharfrichterbeil. In April 2008, together with Roman Deininger, he wrote and directed the cabaret evening Der Ball ist wund at the Landestheater Linz. His career as a pop musician is also very successful: with the Bavarian band "LaBrassBanda" he was the crowd’s favourite at the Eurovision Song Contest, and the group stormed the top 10 of the German charts with their third album "Europa" (released by Sony). In 2013, LaBrassbanda toured Germany, playing for a total audience of 500,000, and made numerous television appearances on the Morgenmagazin on ARD and ZDF, 3nach9, TV Total, among others.
His solo concerts are regularly broadcast on radio stations such as BR, NDR, SWR, Deutschlandradio, Deutschlandfunk and RAI. He recorded Martin Ellerby’s Tuba Concerto with the Deutsche Bläserphilharmonie. His CDs Uraufnahmen—featuring exclusively world-premiere recordings, including tuba concertos by Duda, Näther and Roikjer (ECHO Klassik 2013)—and Why not?, a collection of works for the duo tuba & harp, were both released on the Genuin label.
Andreas Hofmeir plays B&S tubes.