Maurice Steger

“With his exuberant technical differentiation and, above all, his expressive diction, Steger was able to ignite flights of fancy, sometimes touching and warm, sometimes virtuosic with bravura, with recorders in various registers.”

That he is dubbed the “Paganini” and “magician of the recorder” or “the world’s leading recorder player” is not surprising. In order to live up to such high expectations, one requires not only astonishing technique, but also charisma, intellect and a special sensitivity for the music. Maurice Steger has been proving all of this to his audiences, inspiring with his intense tone and unstoppable energy in various concert formats all over the world.

As a soloist, conductor or both at once, he regularly performs with the top period instrument ensembles, such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, La Cetra Basel, Venice Baroque Orchestra, The English Concert, Il Pomo D’oro, and I Barocchisti. He also performs with leading modern orchestras such as the Zürich Chamber Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur, or the NDR Radiophilharmonie.

Chamber music plays a notable role in the richly varied spectrum of Maurice Steger’s artistic endeavors. With fellow musicians and friends such as Hille Perl, Avi Avital, Daniele Caminiti, Lee Santana, Naoki Kitaya, Mauro Valli, Sebastian Wienand, Sol Gabetta or the French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, he dedicates himself to a continuously updated repertoire of Early Music. Besides this, Maurice Steger also engages with new concert formats and contemporary compositions, as shown in projects with pianist Martin Stadtfeld or the Kuss Quartet. In 2021 Steger premiered three new pieces: A dining experience with Telemann by Johannes Fischer, Sei gutes Muts by Iris ter Schiphorst with the Kuss Quartet as well as the Sinonietta per archi by Massimiliano Matesic.

Maurice Steger loves the interaction between different cultures and getting to know other ways of working and interpretive approaches, working as a concert artist, teacher and juror, not only in Europe but throughout the world. He’s led tours of Asia and Australia with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Violins du Roy from Canada and the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He was the first recorder player from the West to perform with the Traditional Taipei Chinese Orchestra.

His commitment to musical education is also extremely important to him: besides the directorship of the Gstaad Baroque Academy at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, which he took over in 2013 in addition to diverse master classes, he invented the character of Tino Flautino in order to encourage young children to playfully engage with classical music. Tino Flautino’s newest adventure with his tomcat Leo will be presented in German, Swiss-German and Italian.

Through his own unending thirst for knowledge, he succeeds time and again to show how much there is still to be discovered about Baroque music. For example, on his recording Souvenirs, he presented works that he discovered in the private library of Count Harrach in Naples. His album Baroque Twitter with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the singer Nuria Rial was inspired by birdsong. Mr. Handel’s Dinner with La Cetra Barockorchester Basel was released in the spring of 2019 and reflects on Handel’s opera performances and especially their intermissions in London. In September 2023, Steger’s very personal Tribute to Bach, also recorded with La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, was released on Berlin Classics.

One wonders sometimes, where Maurice Steger gets all this energy with which he has helped the recorder to make a comeback, as Arte recently presented in a documentary The Recorder: A Comeback. But when you see how much love for the instrument, the music and the audience he puts into each of his many projects, it becomes clear: Maurice Steger is also carved out of very special wood.

Season 2023/2024 | Photo: Molina Visuals | Quote: Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 26th 2023
Amendments or edits need the consent of Künstlersekretariat Astrid Schoerke GmbH

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Maurice Steger – Repertoire Play/Conduct

Maurice Steger – Repertoire Recorder

A Tribute To Bach
J. S. Bach: Concerto for harpsichord, strings and basso continuo No. 2 in E major BWV 1053 (reconstr. by Sebastian Wienand)
                    Musical Sacrifice BWV 1079 excerpt (for recorder)
                    Sonata for violin and basso continuo in G minor BWV 1020 (for recorder)
                    Trio sonata for organ No. 3 in D minor BWV 527
                    Concerto for harpsichord, strings and basso continuo No. 6 in F major BWV 1057  
                    (with 2 recorders)
Partner: Sebastian Wienand (harpsichord & organ), La Cetra Barockorchester Basel
Berlin Classics 11544814 (2023)

Mr Handel’s Dinner – George Frideric Handel & Friends
Music for the Opera Intermissions
Händel: Concerto for recorder after HWV 369 & 293
              Suite for orchestra from HWV 1 & 287
              Sonate a flauto e cembalo HWV 362
              Pasacaille HWV 399
              Trio a faluto, violino e basso HWV 386a
              Chaconne HWV 435
Geminiani: Concerto per flauto after Arcangelo Corelli’s Sonata op. 5 No. 11
G. Finger: A Ground
W. Babell: Concerto in 7 parts for sixth flute and four violins op. 3 No. 1 D-Dur
Partner: Sebastian Wienand (harpsichord & organ), La Cetra Barockorchester Basel
harmonia mundi HMM 902607 (2019)

Baroque Twitter
Fiorè: Usignolo che col volo, Aria from the opera Engelberta 2018
Vinci: Rondinella che dal nido, Aria from the opera Ifigenia in Tauride
Gasparini: Bell’augelletto che vai scherzando, Aria from the opera L’oracolo del fato
Mancini: Sonata 14 in G Minor
Torri: Amorosa rondinella, Aria from the opera Nicomede
Albinoni: Zeffiretti che spirate, Aria from the opera Eraclea
Hasse: L’augelletto in lacci stretto, Aria from the opera Didone abbandonata
Dieupart: Konzert in A Minor
Vivaldi: Quell’usignolo ch’al caro nido, Arie aus der Oper Arsilda regina di Ponto
Scarlatti: Più non m’alletta e piace, Aria from the opera Il giardino d’amore
Vivaldi: Concerto in F Major, RV 442
Partner: Nuria Rial, chamber orchestra Basel
harmonia mundi 8898 549 7582 (2018)

Leonard Bernstein: Klavier- & Kammermusik
Bernstein: Variations on an Octatonic Scale for Recorder and Cello
Partner: Maria Kliegel
CAvi 8790492 (2018)

Souvenirs d’Italie – Mr Harrach’s Musical Diaries             
Sammartini: Concerto per flautino in F Major
Colista: Sinfonia à 3
Hasse: Cantata per flauto in B flat Major
Sarro: Concerto per flauto in D Minor
Caldara: Chiacona à 3
Vinci: Ouverture from the Opera Elpidia, A favourite Song for Recorder from the Opera Elpidia, Tortora che il suo bene (The Love Birds)
Leo: Toccata XIII per cembalo in C Major
Fiorenza: Sonata per flauto in A Minor
Montanari: Concerto per flautino in B flat Major
Piani: Sonata IV in D Major
Partner: Nadja Zwiener, Fiorenza de Donatis, Jonas  Zschenderlein, Katharina Heutjer, Shai Kribus, Mauro Valli, Giulia Genini, Vanni Moretto, Naoki Kitaya, Philippe Grisvard, Gianluca Capuano, Daniele Caminiti, David Bergmüller
Michele Pasotti, Margit Übellacker
harmonia mundi HMC 902253 (2016)

Vivaldi Concerti per flauto
Concerto in G Major
Concerto “La notte” in G Minor
Concerto “La pastorella” in D Major
Concerto in D Minor
Concerto in E flat Major
Concerto in G Minor
Concerto “Il gardellino” in D Major
Partner: I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis
harmonia mundi HMC 902190 (2014)

Tea for Two  
A. Heberle Concerto G Major for recorder, string orchestra and two horns ad lib.
Partner: Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Howard Griffiths (conductor)
Berlin Classics 0300426BC (2013)

Una Follia di Napoli
Sarro: Concerto No. 11 A Minor
A. Scarlatti: Improvisations on the Partita “Follia di Spagna”
Fiorenza: Sinfonia A Minor
Barbella: Concerto No. 3 C Major
Mancini: Sonate No. 11  G Major
Leo: Concerto G Major
Partner: Fiorenza de Donatis, Andreas Rognoni, Anais Chen, Stefano Marcocchi, Mauro Valli, Vanni Moretto, Brigitte Gasser, Naoki Kitaya, Daniele Caminiti
harmonia mundi HMC 902135 (2012)

Pinocchio und der Flötenspieler
A musical fairy tale by Viktor Fortin
Story: Jolanda Steiner
Partner: Musikkollegium Winterthur
Philips 278 551-9 (2011)

Mr. Corelli in London
Corelli / Geminiani / Anonymus
Concerto per flauto Nos. 4, 7, 8, 10
Concerto Grosso after Corelli’s “La Folia”
Ground upon the Sarabanda of the 7th Sonata
The favourite Gigg in Corelli’s 5th Solo
Partner: The English Concert, Laurence Cummings (conductor)
harmonia mundi HMU 907523 (2010)

Venezia 1625
Sonatas, Symphonies, Ciaccones, Canzonas & Toccatas
by G. B. Fontana, M. Uccellini, B. Storace, T. Merula, S. Rossi, D. Castello, A. Piccinini
harmonia mundi HMC 902024 (2009)

Tino Flautino und die Zaubermelodie
musical fairy tale by Rudolphe Schacher
story/narrator: Jolanda Steiner
Partner: Musikkollegium Winterthur, Marc Kissoscy (conduct)
Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Zürich 978-3-03713-301-9 (2008)

Sammartini: Sonate per flauto e basso continuo
Sonatas op. 2 No. 3, op. 2 No. 4, op. 13 No. 1, op.13 No. 4, op. 13 No. 5, Sonate No. 21, No. 23
Partner: Sergio Ciomei, Margret Köll, Mauro Valli, Christian Beuse, Eduardo Egüez, Naoki Kitaya
harmonia mundi HMC 905266 (2007)

Telemann: works for recoder
Suite A Minor TWV 55:a23
Concerto C Major TWV 51:C1
Overture “Hamburger Ebb und Flut” C Major TWV 55:C3
Partner: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
harmonia mundi HMC 901917 (2006)

Georg Friedrich Telemann: Quartets for flute
TWV 43:g4, G6, d3, G11, a3, G12, B2, G10
Partner: Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel
Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 00289 477 5379 2005  (2005)

Maurice Steger: Portrait
Works by Robert Carr, Francesco Mancini, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi und anderen Komponisten
Claves 50-2208 (2004)

Tino Flautino
A musical fairy tale for children
music: Vivaldi, Mozart, Baston and more
story / narrator: Jolanda Steiner
Partner: Zürcher Kammerorchester, Howard Griffiths (condcutor)
Philips 476 111-0 (2003)

Georg Philipp Telemann: Solos & Trios
Sonatina A Minor
Sonata C Major
Fantasia No. 1 A Major
Trio Sonata A Minor
Trio Sonata B flat Major
Trio Sonata F Major
Sonatina A Minor
Fantasia No. 8 E Minor
Trio Sonata D Minor
Partner: Naoki Kitaya, Hanna Weinmeister, Rainer Zimmerling, Brian Feehan, Käthi Gohl, Markus Märkl
Claves 50-2112 (2001)

Vivaldi: Concerti
Concerti for recorder and orchestra RV 428 “Il Gardellino”, RV 442
“Tutti gli instrumenti sordini”-Konzerte RV 437, RV 155, RV 108, RV 438, RV 127
Partner: I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis
Claves  (2000)

La Castella
Works by M. Uccellini, A. Corelli, G.A.P. Mealli, B. Marcello, D. Castello, F. Mancini
Partner: Continuo Consort, Naoki Kitaya
Claves 50-9809 (1998)

An English Collection
Works by G. F. Händel, M. Locke, G. Sammartini, J. Hilton and anonmyous composers
Claves 50-9614 (1996)

An Italian Ground
Baroque Music for recorder by G.B. Fontana, A. Piccinini, F. Rognoni Taeggio, G. Paolo Cima, T. Hume, M. Locke, A. Vivaldi, D. Scarlatti, G. Sammartini, R. Carr
Claves 50-9407 (1994)

Maurice Steger & Sebastian Wienand: J.S. Bach – Sonata g minor, BWV 1020

Maurice Steger & Sinfonia Varsovia: Best of Penderecki Festival

Maurice Steger & Zurich Chamber Orchestra: Vivaldi – Concerto per flauto

Maurice Steger & Zurich Chamber Orchestra: J. S. Bach – from: Goldberg VariationsBWV 988

Maurice Steger & Freiburg Baroque Orchestra: Vivaldi – La Tempesta di Mare

Maurice Steger: Mr Handel’s Dinner – Album Presentation

Maurice Steger & La Cetra: Toshio Hosokawa – Singing Garden in Venice

Maurice Steger & Zurich Chamber Orchestra: “Souvenirs”

Maurice Steger & Martin Klett bei NDR Extra