Mischa Greull, Horn
Born in Basel, has been principal horn in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich for 30 years. His musical studies took him from Bern via Winterthur to Germany, where he also found his first position in an orchestra. As a principal horn Mischa Greull is engaged by various orchestras for different projects, such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and others.
Known for his expressive and mellow sound, Mischa Greull prefers to play works originally composed for the valveless natural horn, which therefore present a special tonal challenge to the performer. Important chamber music and solo works for horn were also composed in the transitional period (end of the 19th century) from the natural to the valved horn. These include the Horn Trio by Johannes Brahms, the Duo Adagio and Allegro by Robert Schumann and the Larghetto by Emmanuel Chabrier for horn and orchestra.
Since his studies at the Bern Conservatory and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Mischa Greull has been exploring the playing techniques of natural and valve horn.
Chamber music by Haydn and Schubert played on original instruments and also orchestral works, especially the cycle with all Beethoven's symphonies in 2014 with the Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by David Zinman are important examples.
Numerous chamber concerts on international stages with a wide variety of instrumentations from Brahm's Trio to Mozart's Gran Partita characterize his musical career. A close collaboration connects him with pianist Seung-Yeun Huh. With the latter, a CD with works by Brahms, Schumann, Beethoven and Widmann was released in 2017.
Mischa Greull is professor at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he teaches a horn class and chambermusic. In additional, he gives master classes in Europe, North- and Southamerica and Asia.