The musicians of the Berliner Philharmoniker are greatly saddened by the news of Wolfgang Herzfeld‘s passing. Herzfeld was a member of the orchestra’s first violin section for almost forty years. Born in Berlin in 1937, Herzfeld began violin lessons at the age of five and, at twelve, became one of the founders of the RIAS Youth Orchestra. After studying in Berlin and Cologne, he first played with the Berlin Chamber Orchestra, and, from 1960, with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1963, he became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker; from 1964 to 1967 he also taught at the private Dounias-Sindermann Conservatory.
From 1975 he was the first violinist of the Herzfeld Quartet, which he founded and which focussed on lesser-known works from the repertoire. After retiring in 2002, he worked on updating a music encyclopaedia edited by his father. Wolfgang Herzfeld died on 1 January 2026 at the age of 88.