Born in 1989, Andreas Ottensamer comes from an Austro-Hungarian family of musicians and was drawn to music early, receiving his first piano lessons when he was four. At the age of ten he began studying the cello at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, then changed to the clarinet under Johann Hindlerin in 2003.
Andreas Ottensamer gained his first orchestral experience as a deputy in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic and as a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. In 2009 he interrupted his Harvard studies to become a scholar of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. He is now the principal clarinettist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Ottensamer has won first prize in competitions for clarinet, cello and piano, and performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Sir Simon Rattle, Yannick Nezét-Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Pablo Heras-Casado and Alan Gilbert. His artistic partnerships as chamber musician include work with Murray Perahia, Leif Ove Andsnes, Leonidas Kavakos, Janine Jansen, Sol Gabetta and Yo-Yo Ma, and together with pianist José Gallardo he is artistic director of the Bürgenstock Festival in Switzerland.
In February 2013 Andreas Ottensamer entered an exclusive recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, making him the first ever solo clarinettist to sign an exclusive agreement with the Yellow Label. His second album ”Brahms – The Hungarian Connection” won the Echo Klassik Award for Instrumentalist of the Year 2015.
In February 2017 his new album “New Era” was released by Decca Classics and features music by Johann and Carl Stamitz, Danzi and Mozart.
In April and May he performed Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No.1 under Mariss Jansons in Berin and for Europakonzert in Cyprus, which will also be released on DVD.
In 2005 Andreas Ottensamer founded the clarinet trio The Clarinotts with his father Ernst and brother Daniel, both principal clarinettists of the Vienna Philharmonic. A CD of the trio was released in 2016 by Deutsche Grammophon.
In 2017/2018 Andreas Ottensamer holds the titles of “Junge Wilde” with the Konzerthaus Dortmund, “Menuhin Heritage Artist” with the Gstaad Festival, as well as “Artist in Residence” with the Kammerakademie Potsdam as well as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
