Christian Simeth was born in Moosburg/Isar in Germany and grew up in Lower Bavaria and Salzburg. He received his first musical training on the recorder and began taking tenor horn lessons at the age of eight; a year later, he switched to the trumpet.
From 2004, he took trumpet lessons at the Musikum Salzburg; in 2011, he began studying the trumpet at the Mozarteum in Salzburg under Prof. Gottfried Menth, Prof. Andreas Öttl and Mag. Wolfgang Gaisböck. He also received further tuition from Gabor Tarkövi, Roman Rindberger, Edward Tarr and Johannes Moritz. Christian Simeth made his debut as a guest musician with the Camerata Salzburg in 2016 and has been a permanent member since 2024. Other engagements have taken him to the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Munich Chamber Orchestra and many others. Whilst still a student, he specialised in playing the Baroque trumpet and regularly performs as a guest with renowned period instrument ensembles such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln and the Dresden Festival Orchestra.
Christian Simeth was employed as a trumpet teacher at the Musikschulwerk Oberösterreich from 2022 to 2024; since 2023, he has held the same position at Musikum Salzburg. In autumn 2024, he began teaching a trumpet class at the Gustav Mahler Private University in Klagenfurt.
Interview
In conversation with Christian Simeth
What do you find particularly appealing about the CAMERATA Salzburg?
Playing with the Camerata is very special to me because there’s an incredibly deep understanding of listening to one another, which is certainly also down to the fact that we very often play without a conductor.
What has been your best experience with the CAMERATA Salzburg so far?
That’s hard to say, because every concert and every tour always brings something special. For me personally, it was certainly a highlight to be able to play the solo in ‘The Unanswered Question’ at the Elbphilharmonie.
What does ‘good ensemble playing’ mean to you?
For me, good ensemble playing is when things happen during a concert that haven’t been rehearsed and can’t be rehearsed, but everyone goes along with it anyway.
