Winner of the Prague Spring International Music Competition and the International ARD Music Competition in Munich in 2002, Matthias Rácz is currently Principal Bassoon of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, as well as Professor of Bassoon at the Zürich University of the Arts and Artistic Director for Bassoon at the Muri Competition in Switzerland. As a soloist, he has worked with numerous renowned orchestras worldwide, including Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Resonanz, among others. He was guest soloist at many important music festivals such as the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mozart Festival Schwetzingen and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Rácz made his début as a soloist at the age of 15 with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra in the German television production Young Artists on the Podium. At 21, he was already Principal Bassoon of Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. His CD recordings feature chamber music and the major bassoon concertos by Mozart, Hummel and Weber, as well as French works for bassoon and small orchestra.
Rácz began his first musical training during his school days in Berlin, where he was taught by Fritz Finsch, Professor of Bassoon at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. After graduation and numerous first prizes at the federal competition “Jugend Musiziert”, Rácz continued his studies with Dag Jensen at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover under various scholarships.
Since the start of his career, Rácz has been highly engaged in the advancement of young talents. Despite his young age, he was invited in 2003 by Seiji Ozawa to Japan as a lecturer to his academy project “Ongaku-juku Opera”. Since then numerous masterclasses have led him around the globe.
As official “Fox Artist”, Rácz is brand ambassador for the leading American bassoon manufacturer Fox Products Corporation.
