José Silva

José Silva, born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in 1995, started playing the bassoon at the age of nine as part of the education programme “El Sistema”. He gathered orchestral experience in various Venezuelan orchestras under conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado. At the age of 15, he first toured Europe with the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra. In Caracas, he participated in master courses with Klaus Thunemann and Carlo Colombo, among others. From 2012 to 2017 he studied with Matthias Racz at the Zurich Academy of the Arts. José Silva was a member of the academy of the Bavarian State Orchestra and played as a substitute with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich and the Dresden Philharmonic. He won prizes at the Concours National d’Exécution Musicale de Riddes and the Carl-Maria von Weber Bassoon Competition in Wroclaw. Since 2018 he has been principal bassoon of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra.