Daniel Beckmann and the Berliner Philharmoniker Brass Ensemble

Daniel Beckmann has been the cathedral organist in Mainz, where he initiated the monthly organ matinees and the International Organ Summer, since 2010. For many years, he has also accompanied the development process of the new Mainz Cathedral organ, which will be inaugurated in August 2022. After teaching at the Detmold University of Music and the University of Paderborn, Beckmann became an honorary professor of organ at the Mainz University of Music in 2016. He also regularly gives concerts in cathedrals and concert halls in Germany and abroad. Recordings for record labels, radio and television stations round off his activities. Daniel Beckmann grew up in the Sauerland region of Germany and studied at the gifted and talented center of the Detmold University of Music, where he passed his exams in Catholic church music, the artistic examination and the concert exam with distinction. He won first prize at the international organ competition in Saint-Maurice d'Agaune (Switzerland) in 2009; in 2016, he was appointed the first Mainz City Musician.

The Brass Ensemble of the Berliner Philharmoniker has been appearing as a chamber music ensemble since the mid-1950s. The octet made up of four trumpets and four trombones was later expanded to include a tuba and a horn as well as an additional trumpet and trombone. Naturally, the musicians also play other instruments, ranging from the high B flat trumpet to the bass trumpet and the contrabass trombone. 
The Ensemble is noted for its nuanced blowing technique and the beautiful tone of the German instruments. The standard instrumentation is suitable for works of the Renaissance and the Baroque period, and the repertoire now includes commissioned works as well. For example, Hans Werner Henze composed the Sonata per otto ottoni (1983) for the Ensemble, and Dieter Siebert wrote his eleven-part Rondo für Blech (1992) for them. Since then, the musicians have also incorporated adaptations of classical works as well as pop and jazz arrangements into their programmes. Their successful concert appearances have taken the Brass Ensemble to many European musical capitals, to festivals and on tours to Japan.