English

One is “almost overwhelmed by the wealth of timbres.”(Crescendo)

Bettina Aust inspires audiences with her dynamic and sensitive playing, both as an outstanding soloist and as a passionate chamber musician. Bettina Aust is principal clarinetist of the Gewandhausorchester and winner of the Opus Klassik 2023. A special focus of the musician is on intercultural music projects.

First prizes at the 2015 German Music Competition and the 2014 Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition paved the way for her successful career. In 2022 Bettina Aust was awarded the City of Augsburg's Arts Prize. The clarinetist regularly performs as a soloist with orchestras such as the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Münster Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra Hagen. In recent years, she has attracted particular attention with the Clarinet Concerto by Carl Nielsen, which she has performed with numerous orchestras.

Her musical work has been documented by all German radio stations. In 2021, her second CD "Fin de Siècle" as a duo with Robert Aust (pianist) was released on the GENUIN label in co-production with BR-Klassik. Wolfram Goertz wrote in the Rheinische Post that Bettina Aust "plays with the warm-hearted, wide-ranging flexibility that has characterized her playing for many years." In 2022, Bettina Aust recorded Paul Ben-Haim's Clarinet Concerto together with the bayerische Kammerphilharmonie. The album was awarded the Opus Klassik.

The musician speaks four languages and is passionate about discovering other cultures. Concert tours have taken her to Pakistan, Algeria, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Mexico in addition to other European countries. The clarinetist has collaborated with local musicians and composers.

Bettina Aust was principal clarinetist with the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra for nine years before moving to the Gewandhausorchester in the same position in 2023. Engagements as an orchestral musician have taken her to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Bettina Aust is a passionate teacher. She gives master classes all over the world and was a lecturer at the Leopold Mozart College of Music in Augsburg for many years. She received her own musical training from Sabine Meyer (Lübeck), Johannes Peitz (Hanover) and Pascal Moraguès (Paris). She has been supported by numerous foundations and was a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation for many years.