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Prof. (stv.) Nicola Jürgensen
_Instrumental Training
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Clarinet
_Faculty Equal Opportunity Representative Fac. 1
_Faculty: 1
Photo: Maike Helbig
Biography
German clarinettist Nicola Jürgensen studied with Hans Deinzer and Sabine Meyer. From an early date her success in national and international music competitions brought her name to the attention of a wider audience.
Among her awards are the Mozart Prize awarded by the Wiesbaden Mozart Society and the German Music Competition Soloists`Prize in 1999. Three years later she was awarded a scholarship by German Radio, including concerts at the Bremen Music Festival.
Nicola Jürgensen was principal clarinet with the Western German Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR) Cologne from 2001 to 2018, successfully combining her orchestral duties with her career as a soloist.
As the latter, she has appeared with the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin (DSO), the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the German Chamber Philharmonic of Bremen, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Orchestras of Berlin and Leipzig (MDR) and the State Theatre orchestras of Braunschweig, Freiburg, Kassel, Rostock and Saarbrücken.
She also performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestras of Poland, Basel and Vienna as well as the Ensemble Resonanz in Hamburg, the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO) and Chamber Orchestra Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Berlin.
Among the conductors with whom she has worked are Stefan Blunier, Roy Goodman, Reinhard Goebel, Hartmut Haenchen, Christopher Hogwood, Fabio Luisi, Andrea Marcon, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Christoph Poppen, Peter Rundel, Peter Ruzicka, Otto Tausk and Sebastian Tewinkel.
Nicola Jürgensen is also very fond of performing chamber music.
On invitation of the Artemis Quartet, she played Karl Amadeus Hartmann`s Chamber Concerto for clarinet and string quartet.
Other musicians whom she has appeared with include the Mandelring Quartet, the Minguet Quartet, the Klenke Quartet, the Trio Jean Paul and the pianists Matthias Kirschnereit and Markus Becker.
She has appeared in the chamber music festivals of Risør (Norway) and Lockenhaus (Austria) and was part of the „Spannungen“ festival at Heimbach in 2019.
In 2008 Nicola Jürgensen performed the part of „Eva“ in a production of Karlheinz Stockhausens`s opera „Michael`s Journey Around The Earth“ by Carlus Padrissa and La Fura dels Baus.
The production was seen at Vienna Festival, the Venice Biennale, the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Festival d`Automne Paris and elsewhere.
A high point of the season 2011/12 was the performance of Johann Wilhelm Wilms` long-lost clarinet concerto with the WDR Symphony Orchestra and Reinhard Goebel.
On her debut CD „Dans La Nuit“ released with ORFEO International in april 2012, she is presenting self-arranged french chamber music and songs together with her long-term pianist Matthias Kirschnereit.
In 2013 she performed as a soloist with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin as well as bringing Giya Kantcheli`s „Night Prayers“ on stage with the WDR Symphony Orchestra.
The season also included her debuts at Lincoln Center Festival New York, Wuhan Festival, China, and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, New Zealand.
2014 and 2015 brought her to Bangkok, where together with collaborators from Thailand and the German Goethe Institute, Nicola Jürgensen established the „German Masters Music Festival“, a series of concerts and masterclasses.
She also returned to Wuhan Festival, China, performing both Mozart and Weber concertos with the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2018, she was playing her debut with the Korean Chamber Orchestra at Seoul Arts Center and with Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, China.
In 2018, she received an appointment as professor for clarinet at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany.
Together with students from her clarinet studio, she has been performing as „Folkwang Clarinets“ in numerous concert series and festivals.
Her students occupy positions and academy positions in orchestras such as Bavarian State Orchestra, NDR Elphilharmonieorchestra, Bochum Symphonic Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and Bergische Symphoniker.
Nicola Jürgensen is giving numerous international masterclasses and became a regular coach of the woodwind section of the German National Youth Orchestra (BJO) in 2020.
Moreover she is still a sought after orchestra musician, filling in on the principal clarinet position in orchestras such as Mahler Chamber Orchestra and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.
In 2020 she recorded Mozart‘s clarinet quintet in the original version for basset clarinet (available on Spotify).
The season 2023/24 will see he perform as soloist in Ellen Taafe Zwillich claronet concerto together with the Théâtre Orchestre Bienne, Switzerland.