VIRTUOSO Artists Management

Panflute virtuoso Ulrich Herkenhoff received the famous "Echo" award of the "Deutsche Phono Akademie e.V." for his CD, "Symphonic Cinema," honoring him as best classical virtuoso of the year in 2000.

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Through his interpretation of classical music, Ulrich Herkenhoff has inspired several contemporary composers to write music for the panflute. In 1992 he was awarded the Munich "Förderpreis des Gasteig Kulturkreises" (Sponsorship of Culture Group Prize) and, in 1996, the Bavarian "Staatsförderpreis für junge Künstler" (State Sponsorship for Young Artists Prize).

Ulrich Herkenhoff was born in Osnabrück, Germany in 1966. He took his first piano lessons at the age of six. His first encounter with the panflute was at a concert given by the Romanian virtuoso Gheorghe Zamfir when Ulrich was 14.

Herkenhoff’s intensive autodidactic studies soon earned him a reputation as "the best non-Romanian panflute player." He stood out not only through his interpretation of classical music, but also for his work in the field of Romanian folk-improvisation.

Following his flute studies at the Munich Richard-Strauss Conservatory with Jochen Gärtner, Ulrich Herkenhoff became the first German panflute player to be officially registered at the Advanced Class with final examination.

Mr. Herkenhoff received special support for his studies of Romanian folk music from the Swiss ethnomusicologist and publisher Marcel Cellier, who discovered Gheorghe Zamfir. With the assistance of Cellier, Herkenhoff produced his first CD in 1990.

In addition to giving concerts as a performer, Ulrich Herkenhoff is also active in the pedagogical area. He has been invited to offer national and international panflute seminars as an instructor for several years. In 1993 he inaugurated the first official class for panflute at the music-school in Bad Tölz, Germany.