Andreas Ottensamer
Andreas Ottensamer has captured audiences and critics alike with his distinct musicianship and versatility as conductor, clarinettist and artistic director.
In the 2025–26 season, Ottensamer makes his operatic debut with Houston Grand Opera in a production of Humperdinck’s „Hänsel und Gretel“. On the symphonic stage, he makes debuts with Hyogo PAC Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony, Oxford Philharmonic and Győr Philharmonic. He also returns to Orchestre National de Mulhouse, National Taiwan Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Symphonieorchester Braunschweig, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Istanbul State Symphony and Filarmonica Banatul Timișoara, amongst others. Recent highlights include debuts with Mozarteumorchester Salzburg at the Mozartwoche, Grazer Philharmoniker, Basel Sinfonieorchester, Musikkollegium Winterthur, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Naples Philharmonic.
In 2021, Ottensamer was awarded the Neeme Järvi Prize (1st Prize) of the Gstaad Festival Conducting Academy. Since then, he has joined Maestro Riccardo Muti in his Italian Opera Academy, assisted Sir Simon Rattle with the BR Sinfonieorchester, François-Xavier Roth with the LSO, and Christian Thielemann in a production of Wagner’s „Lohengrin“ at the Vienna State Opera as well as „The Ring“ at Berlin State Opera. Ottensamer is artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland and the Artström Festival at the Stienitzsee near Berlin, Germany. In 2023 he curated the program of the Classic Revolution Festival at the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul, Korea, consisting of symphonic and chamber music concerts including the KBS Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic.
Having established his musical career as a clarinet soloist, Ottensamer has performed in major concert halls around the world, with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding and Lorenzo Viotti.
He has an exclusive recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, having released numerous recordings. For his album „Blue Hour“, featuring the Berlin Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, Ottensamer received his second Opus Klassik award as „Instrumentalist of the Year“ in 2019. His latest album „Romanza“, with his long-term recital partner José Gallardo, was released in May 2025.
Ottensamer was born in 1989 in Vienna. He comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians and was drawn to music early, receiving his first piano lessons when he was four. At the age of ten, he began studying cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, then changed to the clarinet in 2003. In 2009, he interrupted his Harvard undergraduate studies to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
He has studied conducting with Professor Nicolas Pasquet and Johannes Schläfli.
