Raymond Curfs

The percussionist Raymond Curfs was born in the Netherlands and studied percussion and timpani in Maastricht, Cologne and Berlin with Werner Otten, Georg Breier and Rainer Seegers. Following engagements in the Noord Nederlands Orkest in Groningen, at Stadttheater Bielefeld and in the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed principal timpani of the Bavarian State Orchestra in 1999, and spent eight years there working under the general music directors Zubin Mehta and Kent Nagano. From 2000 to 2006 he was also a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, under the musical directorship of Daniel Harding. Since 2007 he has been principal timpani in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He enjoyed a close artistic friendship with Claudio Abbado, at whose request he joined the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, where he has remained a member ever since its founding in 2003. He makes regular guest appearances with renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala. He has worked with leading conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko and Mstislav Rostropovich.

He also gives solo recitals and performs as a chamber musician with artists including Kolja Blacher, Isabelle Faust, Reinhold Friedrich, Natalia Gutman, Clemens Hagen, Janine Jansen, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Jens Peter Maintz, Alois Posch, Peter Sadlo and Isabelle van Keulen.

Raymond Curfs has taught at the Maastricht Conservatory and the Paris Conservatoire. In 2013 he became a professor at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich. He gives masterclasses worldwide, specializing in the operas of Wagner and Strauss, and is a sought-after juror for international competitions.

As part of his quest for perfection, Raymond Curfs has developed two series of timpani sticks with the Japanese percussion firm Playwood and has developed his own timpani for Adams Percussion.