Born in Magdeburg (Germany) in 1937, he began his musical studies with the piano as his instrument and at the age of 18 he changed to the bassoon. He studied in West Berlin, where he obtained his diploma in 1960. From 1962 to 1978 he was principal bassoonist of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra (NDR). He was the sole winner of the bassoon section at the German Radio Competition (ARD) in Munich in 1965. He has played as a soloist in numerous orchestras and has collaborated in the Ensemble Villa Música in Germany.
Between 2008 and 2016 he was Full Professor of the Bassoon Chair at the Reina Sofía School of Music.
He has collaborated for more than 30 years with the oboist Heinz Holliger, with whom he has also carried out an intense work of chamber music. This chamber dedication has also led him to play regularly with Andràs Schiff and Gidon Kremer. He is invited by important festivals around the world. For more than 10 years he has been a regular member of the well-known Scharoun-Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic.
He has given master classes in the USA, Japan, Sweden, Austria and at the Music and Academy Encounter of Santander (Spain), among others. He has been a professor at the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Since the 2006–2007 academic year he has been a guest artist in the Wind Department of the International Institute of Chamber Music in Madrid.
More than 70 of his students currently hold relevant positions in orchestras in Germany.
He has also produced, together with Sir Neville Marriner, practically the entire bassoon repertoire on Philips with I Musici di Roma and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
He frequently participates in the Music and Academy Encounter of Santander.