Rainer Seidel

Rainer Seidel (bassoon) was born in Plauen, Vogtland in 1954. He received his first bassoon lessons from his father, Günter Seidel, who studied in Leipzig with Georg Junge. During his school days in Munich, Rainer Seidel went on to receive private lessons from Karl Kolbinger, principal bassoonist of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, crowned with the success of his becoming a member of this ensemble himself. During the period from 1977 to 2020, Seidel played under all the orchestra’s principal conductors and guest conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Carlo Maria Guilini, Georg Solti, Bernhard Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, not to mention soloists such as Yehudi Menhuin, Rudolf Serkin, Alfred Brendel, and many world-famous vocal soloists.

Seidel has performed frequently as a soloist in the Bach Collegium Munich, co-founded the Fagottissimo München ensemble, was a regular member of the chamber orchestra of the BRSO, and participated in numerous chamber music performances by the soloists of the BRSO.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus era, several CD recordings have testified that he is “retired but not tired,” including two recordings with works by Christian Ridil on the GENUIN label and a recording featuring works by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Rainer Seidel has also worked successfully as a recording manager for various CD labels for many years.

Picture: Private archive Rainer Seidel