Simon Höfele

Press

• Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie: Haydn Trumpet Concerto

  Rhein-Mosel-Halle

  Apr 2024

  • Simon Hofele takes up the challenge with appropriate relish: technically confident, the 30-year old captivates with a supple playing that impresses with its softness, warmth, sensitivity and, in the slow middle movement, 'singing qualities. At the same time, he knows the sharp possibilities of music.

    • Rhein-Zeitung Koblenz
    • 29 April 2024

• CD Review: Standards

  Mar 2020

  • One attraction of Höfele’s playing is how well he balances brilliance with lyricism; both concertos’ slow movements are beautifully done, each followed by an excitable rondo finale. Duncan Ward’s BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra offer sprightly support.

    • The Arts Desk
    • 28 March 2020

• Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra: Marcello Trumpet Concerto & lbinoni Trumpet Concerto

  Neckar Forum, Esslingen

  Dec 2019

  • He approached the first movement of Tomaso Albinoni's Trumpet Concerto in D minor, Op. 9, No. 2 with such ease that one got the impression that anyone could play the trumpet. However, anyone who tries it will quickly be proven wrong. Höfele let the barrels rattle over the airy accompaniment of the well-positioned Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. And in the Adagio he provided clean tonal approaches and excitingly phrased, beautiful tone lines. Lightness is key In the Allegro, Höfele once again ignited a brilliant firework display of wind art. What's more: the technical brilliance, the precise articulation and the razor-sharp scales were reminiscent of the unrivaled art of the legendary trumpet master Maurice André. In Alessandro Marcello's Trumpet Concerto in D minor - like Albinoni's opus originally written for oboe - lightness was also the trump card. The technique sparkled flawlessly, the slow movement enchanted with wonderful legato magic, and in the Presto Höfele showed what a fast tongue is: you experienced brass art with a high enjoyment factor. Of course there was an encore. In the da capo of the final movement, Höfele increased the tempo a bit and ended on a perfectly set top note after a real hussar ride.

    • Esslinger
    • 29 December 2019

• The Lübeck Philharmonic: Arutjunyan Trumpet Concerto

  Theater Lübeck

  Dec 2017

  • Loosely arranged, the soloist is given delicate tonal tasks that demonstrate the expressive range of his instrument, from the lyrical to the dramatic. In parts that were interwoven with other instruments, for example with the strings or in a duet with the clarinet, a soloist was rarely seen as free and thoughtful. It was Simon Höfele, a native of Darmstadt born in 1994, who never made the great cadenza, which explored all the possibilities of the trumpet, appear virtuosic, but rather let it be experienced as a magnificent and musically meaningful conclusion.

    • Unser Lubeck
    • 27 December 2017