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Ludwig Güttler prowess on both the trumpet and the corno da caccia made him one of the most successful virtuosos of our time.
In 1965, after successfully completed his studies and passing the state examination at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conservatoire in Leipzig, Ludwig Güttler answered the call of the Händel Festival Orchestra in Halle, where he occupied the position of solo trumpeter. From 1969 to 1980 he held the same position with the Dresden Philharmonia. Teaching posts subsequently took him to the International Music Seminar in Weimar and then to the Carl Maria von Weber Conservatoire in Dresden, where he was professor for the trumpet until 1990.
Not only is Ludwig Güttler one of the most successful trumpet virtuosos in the world, his wide-ranging activities have also earned him world-wide acclaim as a conductor, scholar, concert promoter and sponsor.
Ludwig Güttler directs opera productions and holds master classes. Major music competitions such as the International Music Competition of the Broadcasting Corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany (ADR) in Munich and the Concours International de Trompette Maurice André in Paris regularly invite him to join their panels of adjudicators. Ludwig Güttler gives guest performances as a soloist and conductor at the major concert venues at home and abroad. A large number of recordings featuring him as a chamber music player, soloist and conductor are available and include as yet unknown works for trumpet and corno da caccia; this collection is enriched yearly by the addition of important new recordings.
By analyzing materials used in old instruments Ludwig Güttler has been able to play a decisive part in re-developing the corno da caccia, so that trumpeters today have a valve instrument of great versatility at their disposal. Ludwig Güttler’s enthusiasm to research and unearthing works has moreover been responsible for enlarging the concert literature by numerous new, chiefly 18th-century, works. To promote the performance of various musical genres and bring them to stylistically authentic life, Güttler founded the Leipzig Bach Collegium, the Ludwig Güttler Brass Ensemble and the Virtuosi Saxoniae chamber orchestra, which he heads as conductor and soloist.
Each year Ludwig Güttler has been awarded prizes in recognition of his musical achievements. In 1983 he received Hamburg’s Deutsche Phonoakademie ‘Discovery of the Year’ record award; in 1989 he was awarded Frankfurt’s Musikpreis for extraordinary achievements in his specialist field and on the national and international music scene. His exceptional commitment, campaigns and activities in connection with the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche in Dresden won him the ‘Deutscher Stifterpreis für 1996’ award. The Bundesverband Deutsche Stiftungen e.V. in Bonn awards this prize yearly to a person who has rendered outstanding services to a charitable foundation. Ludwig Güttler, chairman of the board of directors of the ‘Society for the Support of the Rebuilding of Dresden’s Frauenkirche’, was presented with the German National Foundation’s first national prize by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is a member of Cultural Senate of Saxony and the Academy of Arts in Saxony. |
