Christoph Bielefeld

Christoph Bielefeld studied harp with Helga Storck in Munich, Catherine Michel and Julie Palloc in Zurich, and Marie-Pierre Langlamet in Berlin. In 2011/12, he was appointed principal harpist at the Theater Altenburg/Gera on a temporary contract. Substitute engagements have taken him to orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna RSO, the BR Symphony Orchestra, the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Hamburger Philharmoniker, Zurich Opera, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, the Bamberger Symphoniker, Oslo Opera, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the WDR Sinfonieorchester and many more.

In 2011, he was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, and during his school years he played in the German National Youth Orchestra.

Christoph Bielefeld has won various prizes in competitions, including the Schumann Award for best song accompaniment at the International Harp Competition in Utrecht, Netherlands, in 2010, first prize at the Reinl Competition in Vienna in 2006, and second prize at the Nippon Harp Competition in Soka, Japan.

Christoph Bielefeld was a scholarship holder at the Villa Musica Chamber Music Academy, which awarded him a sponsorship prize in 2009.

With his ‘trio l'après-midi’ (Nora Schwarzberg, viola, and Eric Lamb, flute), he has performed at the Vienna Concert Hall, the Vienna Cultural Summer, the Trame Sonore festival in Mantua, and as part of the European Capital of Culture in Bad Ischl.

Numerous solo recitals and chamber concerts in various ensembles have taken him throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland, to France, Belgium, Italy, Poland and South Africa.

His debut CD was released in 2009 on the musicom/Münster label.

Since the 2015/16 season, Christoph Bielefeld has been principal harpist of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, and in 2018 he became assistant to Prof. Stephen Fitzpatrick at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. From 2019 to 2022, he was a member of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. In the 2024/2025 academic year, he will take over as head of the harp class at the Gustav Mahler Private University in Klagenfurt.