“Unbelievable! And now I'm playing in this orchestra myself!”
Principal horn player Yun Zeng has passed his probationary period

Our congratulations to Yun Zeng! Having passed his probationary period, he now officially holds a solo horn position with the Berliner Philharmoniker. We introduce you to the musician in a little more detail.

Yun Zeng was in the middle of a chamber music rehersal when his colleague Sarah Willis burst in. “Congratulations!” exclaimed Willis, who had come straight from an orchestra meeting; he had passed his probationary period. After less than a year, Yun Zeng was officially confirmed as principal horn-player of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Zeng still can’t quite believe it. 

Even as a teenager, he had followed recordings of the Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado with great enthusiasm. One recording particularly captivated him: Schumann’s Concert Piece for Four Horns with orchestra members Stefan Dohr and Georg Schreckenberger in the solo quartet. Ever since then, he had dreamed of becoming part of this ensemble. “Unbelievable! And now I'm playing in the orchestra myself!” he says.

Descendant of a family of horn players

The journey to reach this point has not been an easy one. Zeng, who was born in Sichuan and whose grandfather and father were professional horn-players, showed a talent for the instrument at an early age. He received his first horn lessons from his father at the age of six, and soon it was time to move to Quan Wen’s class at the Beijing conservatory. This meant leaving his family behind. “From then on, I was largely on my own,” he recalls. “I concentrated entirely on playing the horn. Now I'm beginning to realise that there are other things in life.”

Zeng studied in Beijing and at the Haute École de Musique de Genève with Bruno Schneider; after winning the first prize of the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition and a place as runner-up in the 2021 International ARD Music Competition, he became principal horn-player with the Staatskapelle Berlin in 2022. In 2024/25, he took the same position with the Berliner Philharmoniker. 

The trial year presented him with a number of challenges. Yun Zeng struggled with self-doubt; then his father died. Despite all the stress, he looks back with gratitude – for wonderful concert experiences such as Strauss’ Alpine Symphony and Puccini’s Butterfly, for the understanding and support of his colleagues, and for everything he was able to learn: “For example, to maintain a certain delicacy in my playing during the loud passages,” he explains. And what comes next? He smiles: “First, I want to get my driver’s licence and make my flat a little nicer.”