Markus Würsch

Swiss classical, jazz trumpeter and trumpet soloist, trumpet pedagogue The Swiss trumpet virtuoso Markus Würsch was born in 1955 in Emmetten, Nidwalden in the spectacularly scenic region of lake Lucerne. He studied trumpet and brass ensemble conducting at the Conservatoire in Zurich and Lucerne where he received his degree with honours. He won the coveted Migros competition, and subsequently received a grant which enabled him to spend a year at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur in Paris. He also spent time studying with Charles Geyer at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester NY), with Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University of Chicago, and with Adolphe Herseth (principal trumpet of Chicago Symphony Orchestra). In 1981 Markus won the audition for principal trumpet with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich, holding this prestigious post for fourteen years. In 1995, he spent a year studying at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, London. There he studied under Michael Laird and Crispian-Steele Perkins (Baroque-Trumpet), Jeremy West (Cornetto) and Phillip Jones (Ensemble Direction). He has performed as soloist at the Lucerne International Festival and with the Tonhalle Orchestra. With the support of the Swiss National Fund and the Bern University of the Arts, Markus conducted extensive research and subsequently developed a reconstruction of a 19th century keyed trumpet, in collaboration with the instrument maker Konrad Burri. The original instrument, the focus of the research, was found in the private collection of Konrad Burri, Zimmerwald, near Bern. With this reconstructed instrument, Markus went on to perform and produce a CD recording of the trumpet concertos of Joseph Haydn and Nepumuk Hummel in June 2013. For some years now, he performs almost exclusively on historical instruments. He frequently appears with the ensembles “La Cetra” and I Barocchisti (RSI, Italian Swiss Radio) and continues to interpret the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concertos as soloist on the keyed trumpet. Markus Würsch is professor of Modern, Natural and Romantic trumpet at Bern University of the Arts, and at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Source: markuswuersch.ch