Philipp Zeller

Phillip Zeller has been principal bassoonist with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden since 2015 and has held a professorship at the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden since 2019.

Philipp Zeller's musical career began in 2003 when he won first prize at the German Music Competition. He then released a solo CD with works for bassoon and piano on the Ars Musici label and has since been a regular guest at chamber music festivals in Germany and abroad.

He has since won awards at renowned competitions in Bayreuth, Markneukirchen, and the Prague Spring, as well as first prize at the Gillet-Fox Competition of the International Double Reed Society.

As a soloist, he has since performed with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Dresdner Kapellsolisten, the Dresdner Philharmonie, and the Cappella Istropolitana, among others.

In 2012, he released a CD entitled “Cosmopolitan” with his trio Elego, featuring works by Daniel Schnyder and Mikhail Glinka on the Genuin label. In 2015, composer Daniel Schnyder wrote a bassoon concerto for Philipp Zeller, which he premiered with the Dresden Philharmonic.

Philipp Zeller studied under Albrecht Holder and Dag Jensen. While still a student, he was engaged as principal bassoonist by the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra and moved to the Bochum Symphony Orchestra the following year. He then held the same position with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, and the Dresden Philharmonic, where he played until joining the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in 2015.

From 2012 to 2018, Philipp Zeller taught bassoon very successfully as a lecturer at the University of Music Würzburg, after which he was appointed professor at the University of Music Dresden in 2019.