Ralf-Jörn Köster was born in Düsseldorf in 1966 and grew up in a musical family. He played his favourite instrument, the oboe, for the first time at the age of 10 and won several prizes in the Jugend Musiziert competition. Ralf-Jörn Köster then completed his studies at the RSH Düsseldorf with Taskin Oray with a concert exam. Master classes with Prof. Winfried Liebermann and years of regular musical exchange with him have left a lasting impression on Ralf-Jörn Köster.
Before joining the Nuremberg State Theatre in 2008 as Principal Oboist of the Nuremberg State Philharmonic Orchestra, he was Principal Oboist of the Remscheid Symphony Orchestra during his studies at the age of 23, and later of the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra for many years. He is a welcome guest at many renowned opera houses, including the Munich State Opera and the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. With the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, the Münchner Bachsolisten and the Salzburger Kammersolisten he has performed regularly in Germany and abroad for many years and has participated in numerous CD recordings.
He was appointed to the Würzburg University of Music in 2003. His teaching has ranged from major subjects, orchestral studies and methodological didactics to reed making. From the winter semester of 2014 to the summer semester of 2016, he was a visiting professor at the Nuremberg University of Music for two years and will continue his teaching activities with his own class of winter semester 2016/17. The father of four children is passionate about passing on his wealth of musical and instrumental experience to young oboists. His first book "Von der Holzstange zum Oboenrohr" (From the wooden stick to the oboe reed) was published in December 2016.
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