Matthias Höfs Trumpet Interview
Welcome to the show notes for Episode #81 of The Other Side of the Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features trumpeter Matthias Höfs.
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About Matthias Höfs
When he was six years old, Matthias Hoefs declared the trumpet “his instrument, because it shines so nicely”. He received his musical education from Professor Peter Kallensee at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre, and from Profes- sor Konradin Groth at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. When just 18 years of age, he was engaged as Solo-Trumpeter at the Philharmonic State Orchestra in Hamburg, where he enjoyed the fascinating world of opera for 16 years.
At the same time, Hoefs became a member of the GERMAN BRASS Ensemble, with whom he continues to achieve worldwide success. Since their first joint concert in 1985, he writes for himself and his colleagues tailored arrangements which span more then one genre and continue to inspire the world of Brass.
Matthias Hoefs has always shown a pioneering spirit, and thus has consistently widened the horizon of his instrument, either by close cooperation with other composers, who feel themselves inspired by his incomparable virtuosity and joy of experimentation, or as “trumpet ambassador” in his home state of Schleswig- Holstein in northern Germany, or in cooperation with the instrument makers Max and Heinrich Thein.
Since the year 2000, Matthias Hoefs has been teaching as Professor at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre, were he inspires his students with great enthusiasm, knowing how to pass on his passion for his instrument. In addition to his extensive concert performances as solo-trumpeter and chamber musician, Hoefs has produced numerous Solo CDs, and jointly with GERMAN BRASS, more than 20 recordings.
In October 2016 GERMAN BRASS was awarded with the ECHO Klassik – one of the most outstanding awards for national and international musicians.
Matthias Höfs Links
Podcast Credits
- “A Room with a View“ – composed and performed by Howie Shear
- Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard at SC Sound Labs
- Cover Art – Phil Jordan
- Podcast Host – John Snell
She’s a singer. She’s a trombone player. She’s a songwriter. She’s a performer.
In between her recording commitments, Logan finds time to share the stage with Alabama Shakes and Meghan Trainor and Pharrell Williams and Josh Groban and Dave Koz and The Commodores and Boston Pops at venues as diverse as Ronnie Scott’s famous jazz club in London to the expansive Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. She’s appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and the Grammys’ Award Show and ABC’s The Goldbergs. She’s recorded a duet with her childhood hero, Gloria Estefan. She’s won multiple awards at the Montreux Jazz Festival. She’s beloved by not just the dedicated fans of Postmodern Jukebox, but she considers the creator, Scott Bradlee, and her colleagues within the collective her true friends. And she loves performing. But it’s in her writing that we find out who Aubrey Logan really is.
Her title track, LA revealed to the world just how difficult it is to be an artist living in the biggest entertainment town on the planet. She opened up her soul in the song, Understand. She gave us songs that told us how much travel takes its toll and songs that tell us what’s truly important in a world that glorifies superficiality. She even takes us back a few decades with some retro songs that ask us to remember what it was that first captured our imagination on the radio.
Jim Manley figures he has spent around 10,500 plus nights playing his trumpet around town in his hometown of St. Louis since the 70’s.
Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2006 after 32 years as principal trombonist. Previously, he spent six years as principal with the Toronto Symphony. During that time, he also served as principal trombonist for the Canadian Opera and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and was a faculty member at the University of Toronto. A native of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Emory Remington.
Bob‘s training included four great teachers, Don Kimble, Jeff Reynolds, Robert Simmergren and Roy Main; they have made all the difference! His professional career began at the age of twenty with the Disneyland Band where he stayed three years. It was a de facto apprenticeship, working day in and day out with 15 experienced professional musicians. Thereafter he stayed busy performing hither and yon in the greater Los Angeles area, including 30 years with Pacific Symphony, 24 years as a founding member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, 22 seasons with Opera Pacific, 12 years in the Composers Brass Quintet, and of course, a decade or so in Hoyt Bohannon’s garage on Tuesday nights.


Jay Friedman attended Yale University on scholarship and majored in composition at Roosevelt University. After four years with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and two years with the Florida Symphony, he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1962 and was appointed principal trombone in 1964. He has soloed with the CSO on several occasions, including a concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Friedman’s conducting career has included guest appearances with orchestras around the world, including the Orchestra of the Italian Radio (RAI), the Malmo Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s annual donor concerts. In April 2005, he conducted three concerts with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome. In March 2006, he conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in a public master class of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony at Symphony Center, and in May 2007 he conducted the RAI orchestra in Italy with Daniel Barenboim as piano soloist.
Honesty Pill founder Christopher Still joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Second Trumpet in 2007.
David Elton is recognised as one of the world’s most sought-after trumpet players.
David is an active chamber musician, most recently giving the world premiere of David Sampson’s Memories to Keep Awhile at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. He is a founding member of the Australian Brass Quintet with whom he regularly tours throughout Australia and beyond.

Martin appeared as teacher and soloist on festivals such as the International Trombone Festival, Korean Trombone Symposium, Dutch Bass Trombone Open, Festival do Campos Jordao Brazil, Costa Rica Trombone Festival, Thailand Trombone Festival, Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival, Sesc International Music Festival Pelotas Brazil, IPV Festival, Lätzsch Trombone Festival, Curso Trombon de Valga in Spain amongst others and taught masterclasses at major universities in USA, Europe, Australia and Asia.
Originally from Portland Oregon, Gary Guthman started his career at the age of nine. As a young teen, Gary was a member of the nationally acclaimed “Seldom Six” Dixieland Band, comprised of 12 to 14 years old who traveled the United States performing stage shows and conventions, playing, singing and tap-dancing all the way. Throughout Gary’s high school and college years, he performed with jazz and rock and roll bands and at 17 years old, auditioned for the acclaimed Portland (Oregon) Youth Orchestra; the oldest of its kind in the United States.
Since moving to Central Europe, Gary has given hundreds of concerts with his “Gary Guthman Quartet” and “The New Swing Orchestra”, as well as Symphonic Pops concerts. In 2011, Gary released his next CD entitled “Solar Eclipse” on the Polski Radio Jazz Label, featuring his quartet of world-class Polish jazz artists Filip Wojciechowski/piano, Paweł Pańta/Bass, Cezary Konrad/Drums. Gary Guthman is the only non-Polish jazz artist to release his own CD in the 95-year history of Polish Radio. In 2014, along with his co-writer Doman Nowakowski, Gary composed the Libretto, Music and Lyrics for a new musical entitled “Letter from Warsaw”.
David Rejano is the principal trombone of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra since 2016. Before that, he served as Principal Trombone with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Navarra from 2002 to 2007, Principal Trombone with the Orquestra del Gran Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona (Barcelona Opera House) from 2007 to 2010, and Principal Trombone with the Münchner Philharmoniker from 2010 to 2016.