Detmold Hochschule für Musik

Tobias Pelkner was born in 1969 in Wangen in Allgäu. He started his first bassoon lessons at the age of 9 at the local youth music school. After winning several national prizes in the Young Musicians competition, he was a member and leader of the National Youth Orchestra from 1985 to 1988 and in 1986 he played solo bassoon in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Jeunesses Musicales. From 1990 to 1995 he studied with Professor Alfred Rinderspacher (Mannheim University of Music) and Professor Klaus Thunemann (Hannover University of Music).

In 1990 he won the bassoon solo section of the university competition.

In 1992, Pelkner was awarded first prize with the Diaphonia Quintett at the German Music Competition. This was followed by numerous tours through, among others, Spain, England, Ireland and the Ukraine; as well as radio recordings and performances at renowned festivals like the Rheingau Music Festival and the Mozart Festival in Würzburg.

From 1990 to 1992 he played solo bassoon in the Youth Orchestra of the European Community, as well as in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under conductors like Abbado, Haitink and others.

From 1995 to 2009, Tobias Pelkner was the number one solo bassoonist of the Stuttgart State Opera. Apart from his work in Stuttgart, he regularly played solo bassoon in numerous big German symphony orchestras, for instance, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR); the Hannover Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (NDR); München Philharmonic Orchestra and opera orchestras like the Bavarian State Opera München; Hamburg State Opera and Semper Opera House in Dresden.

In 2007 he was appointed Professor of Bassoon at the Hamburg University of Music after years of private teaching. The appointment as Professor at the Detmold University of Music followed in 2008.