Robert-Christian Schuster © Markenfotografie

Robert-Christian Schuster

Deputy Solo Bassoonist - Deputy Chairperson of the Orchestra Board
in the orchestra since 2003

Robert-Christian Schuster, born in Rostock in 1977, began playing the recorder at the age of 6. Accompanying this, he attended music theory lessons at the municipal music school. In 1991 he received his first bassoon lessons from Prof. Bernhard Rose, bassoonist of the Saxon State Orchestra (retired), and was admitted to the Saxon Special School of Music. From 1992 he was taught by Prof. Mario Hendel. From 1993 to 1996 Schuster was a bassoonist in the Saxon State Youth Orchestra, and at the same time was active as a chamber musician in various ensembles and formations. In 1997 he passed his Abitur examinations very successfully and did his civilian service. From 1998 to 2004 he studied with Prof. Mario Hendel at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden. Concert tours with the German-Italian Youth Orchestra and the Young European Philharmonic Orchestra took him through Germany and Europe, and he accepted an invitation from the state capital of Dresden for a concert tour in woodwind trio formation to the USA.

Robert-Christian Schuster attended master classes with Prof. Gustavo Nunez, Prof. Milan Turkovic and Prof. Georg Klütsch.

Already during his studies he was a substitute in the orchestras of the Dresden State Operetta, the Dresden Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle. In the 2002/03 season Robert-Christian Schuster was deputy principal bassoonist of the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Chemnitz Opera House. In January 2003 he made his debut as soloist with the Dresden University Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Marek Janowski.

In 2003 he was invited as bassoonist to the international orchestra of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo/Japan. With this orchestra he played under the conductors Bernard Haitink, Edo de Waart and Yutaka Sado, as well as chamber music with members of the Vienna Philharmonic.

Since October 2003 Schuster has been deputy principal bassoonist of the Dresden Philharmonic. As a guest or substitute, he has accepted invitations from various orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Kuala Lumpur.

Together with the Landesjugendorchester Sachsen he performed as a soloist in Saxony and Great Britain. Furthermore, he worked very successfully as a soloist with the University Orchestra Dresden. He also performed as a soloist with the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Dresden.

He regularly collaborates with renowned ensembles such as the Virtuosi Saxoniae, the Dresdner Kapellsolisten, the Dresdner Sinfoniker and the Junge Kammerphilharmonie Dresden. He can also be heard regularly in various instrumentations in the chamber concerts of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since 2009 Robert-Christian Schuster has been a lecturer for bassoon at the Dresden Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music.