Press:

«Ottensamer navigates Humperdinck’s lush score with finesse, accentuating both its folk-inspired melodies and its more dramatic orchestral textures. Throughout the evening, he gives the score room to breathe, allowing its sweeping orchestral passages and delicate lyricism to shine. The balance between pit and stage remains finely tuned, supporting the singers without overpowering them.»

[Broadway World 1.2.26 / Humperdinck Hänsel & Gretel, Houston Grand Opera]

«This is a conductor who illuminates the score from within, bringing it to life and brilliance. The ovations are well deserved!»

[Kurier, 6.12.25 / Mozart Requiem & Jupiter Symphony, Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich]

Season Highlights:

In the 2026-27 season, Ottensamer will make debuts with Staatskapelle Berlin, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Shanghai Symphony, San Diego Symphony and return to Orchestre National du Capitol Toulouse, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Tonkünstler Orchester, Grazer Philharmoniker and Münchener Kammerorchester to name a few. He will also embark on an extensive chamber music tour in Australia.

New Recording:

His latest project with Deutsche Grammophon is an audio-visual production of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and Requiem on DG Stage+ as well as TV stations ORF and 3Sat. listen here

Andreas Ottensamer has captured audiences and critics alike with his distinct musicianship and versatility as conductor, clarinetist and artistic director.

In the 2026-27 season, Ottensamer makes debuts with Staatskapelle Berlin, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Shanghai Symphony, San Diego Symphony and returns to Orchestre National du Capitol Toulouse, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Kammerorchester Basel, Tonkünstler Orchester, Grazer Philharmoniker and Münchener Kammerorchester to name a few. He will also embark on an extensive chamber music tour in Australia. Recent highlights include his operatic debut with Houston Grand Opera in a production of Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel and symphonic debuts with Oxford Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Basel Sinfonieorchester and more.

In 2021, Ottensamer was awarded the Neeme Järvi Prize (1st Prize) of the Gstaad Festival Conducting Academy. Since then, he has joined Maestro Riccardo Muti in his Italian Opera Academy, assisted Sir Simon Rattle with the BR Sinfonieorchester and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as Christian Thielemann in a production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera.

Ottensamer is artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland. In 2023 he curated the program of the Classic Revolution Festival at the Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul, Korea, consisting of symphonic and chamber music concerts including the KBS Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic.

Ottensamer is considered one of the leading instrumentalists of our time and performs as a clarinet soloist in the major concert halls around the world with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic and the Netherlands Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Daniel Harding and Lorenzo Viotti.
He is a regular guest artist at festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival and the Festival de Pâques d’Aix en Provence. Ottensamer has held the position of principal clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011 to 2025.

Ottensamer has an exclusive recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon and has released numerous recordings with the label. In 2015, he received an Echo Klassik Award as "Instrumentalist of the Year" for his recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and in 2019, an Opus Klassik Award in the same category for his album Blue Hour, featuring the Berlin Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons. As conductor, Ottensamer has recorded Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and Requiem together with the Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Konzertchor Interpunkt in an audio-visual production for DG Stage+, ORF and 3sat.

Born in Vienna in 1989, Ottensamer comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians and was drawn to music early, receiving his first piano lessons at the age of four. At ten, he began studying cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, before switching to the clarinet in 2003. In 2009, he interrupted his Harvard undergraduate studies to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. He has studied conducting with Professor Nicolas Pasquet and Johannes Schläfli.