Wolfgang Herzfeld, who was a member of the orchestra for nearly 40 years, has died aged 88
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) has announced the death of its former violinist, Wolfgang Herzfeld, who died on 1 January 2026 aged 88.
Herzfeld was born in 1937 in Berlin and began violin lessons at the age of five. Aged twelve, he was one of the founding members of the RIAS (Radio In American Sector/Radio im Amerikanischen Sektor) Youth Orchestra.
He studied in Berlin and Cologne and later played in the Berlin Chamber Orchestra and the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1960.
He became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1963, where he served in the orchestra’s first violin section for nearly 40 years until his retirement in 2002.
Alongside his work with BPO, he taught at the Dounias-Sindermann Conservatory from 1964 to 1967. In 1975, he was the founding first violinist of the Herzfeld Quartet, which comprised other members of the BPO. The quartet released chamber music recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon and Acanta labels.
Following his retirement, he worked on updating music encyclopaedia entries edited by his father.
The musicians of the BPO were ’greatly saddened’ by the news of Herzfeld’s death.
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