Felix Klieser

Despite scepticism from even his own teachers, the German horn player has become a worldclass musician by reinventing his instrument’s technique, as he explains to Freya Parr

‘I wanted to play this exact instrument. For me it was the horn or nothing’

Chairs are brought on stage, accompanied with a three-legged metal stand with a French horn laid on top. As an audience member, it’s no different to seeing a piano rolled out or an endpin anchor placed down for a cellist. What happens next, though, is a little more surprising. The 31-year-old German horn player Felix Klieser approaches the stage and assumes a position not often seen in the concert hall. With the horn placed in front of him, Klieser’s left leg swings up and his toes begin operating the valves