© Marian Lenhard

Swantje Vesper

When I was 6, my father brought home a children's horn, which he actually meant for one of his students. I was allowed to try it, and that was it – I wanted to learn the horn.
The decision to aim at being an orchestral musician matured over years of playing in various youth orchestras. I still have lovely, never to be forgotten memories and friendships from that time.
For me, what’s special about making music in an orchestra is our shared pursuit of the most gorgeous-sounding, best possible musical result – for the audience, but also for us players. To get there, so many things happen at once, so many tiny cogs have to mesh, it's just wonderful.

Swantje Vesper was born in Bremen and had her first horn lessons aged six from her father Andreas Vesper. After junior studies at the Hanover University of Music’s Institute for Early Training of the Musically Gifted, from 2005 to 2008 she was taught by Bernd Künkele in Hamburg. From 2008, she studied under Prof. Christian Lampert at Stuttgart’s University of Music, where she obtained her bachelor and master degrees. She played in the Federal Youth Orchestra and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, and she is also a founding member of the brass ensemble 10forBrass as well as the Aurum Horn Quartet.

After stints at the Hanover State Opera and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, she has played horn in the Bamberg Symphony since 2016.