Michael Hasel began his music studies on piano, organ, and conducting, intending to graduate as a church musician. He studied conducting with Prof. Francis Travis and flute with Aurèle Nicolet at the Freiburg Musikhochschule. He received further conducting instructions in private lessons with Prof. Michael Gielen and several masterclasses. His first orchestral appointment as a flutist was from 1982 to 1984 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, after which he became a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan. In 1988 he was a founding member of the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. With the BPWQ Hasel has toured all over the world and has produced more than 20 CDs for the famous Swedish Label BIS, many of which are already widely held to be “definitive” performances. For several years he performed as principal flute with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Pièrre Boulez, and James Levine. From 1994-1998 he was Professor of Wind Ensemble and Chamber Music at the Heidelberg-Mannheim Musikhochschule. As a conductor, Hasel has worked with renowned ensembles such as the Ensemble Modern, Scharoun-Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Berlin Philharmonic Brass, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Gustav Mahler Orchester, Orchestra Simon Bolivar, and the Berliner Philharmoniker. He is now internationally active as a conductor, soloist, teacher, and coach.

This is his first appearance at PMF.