kai strobel
Kai Strobel is 1st place winner and recipient of the audience award at the 68th ARD Music Competition 2019. As a soloist, the 1992-born percussionist has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, the Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, the Asko | Schönberg Orchestra Amsterdam, the Musicum Collegium Basel and the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra among others.
He is a scholarship recipient of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the German Music Competition, and an honoree of the Mozarteum International Summer Academy. Since 2022 Kai Strobel has been appointed Professor at the Conservatorio Della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and is the International Visiting Tutor at the RNCM Manchester. As a lecturer, Kai holds regular Masterclasses at places such as the Eastman School of Music (Rochester), University für Music und Theatre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Leipzig), Mt San Antonio College (Los Angeles), Leeds Conservatoire (Leeds) and Royal Northern College of Music in (Manchester).
In collaboration with his chamber music partner and brother Marc Strobel, he initialized the Boum-Percussion Academy, a Music Workshop for young students from all around the world, which has taken place since 2021 every year in the Region of their Hometown, Stuttgart/ Germany.
Being endorsed by companies such as ADAMS Musical Instruments, Zultan Cymbals, and Meinl-Percussion, Kai continues to research innovations in percussion instruments, tones, and their richness.
In his newly founded ensemble, including percussion, bandoneon, and piano, Kai places his instrument in an innovative chamber music focus. Especially the rhythmic structure and the vivid character of the Tango Nuevo enabled Kai to explore many parallels and fitting parameters for a creative continuation of the Genre while valuing the music’s rules and norms.
marc strobel
Prof. Marc Strobel is a percussionist, composer and creative director whose work bridges orchestral performance, interdisciplinary creation and contemporary artistic practice. His artistic profile combines orchestral precision with conceptual thinking, immersive performance formats and international collaboration.
Since the 2016/17 season, he has served as Principal Percussionist of the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the orchestra of the Stuttgart Opera and Stuttgart Ballet. In the 2023/24 season, he additionally performed as Associate Principal Percussionist with the HR-Sinfonieorchester.
Marc Strobel graduated with distinction from the State University of Music Trossingen, where he studied classical percussion under Professor Franz Lang. He is a laureate of several national and international competitions for percussion and marimba.
Prior to his appointment in Stuttgart, Marc Strobel held positions with the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden & Freiburg, the Saarländisches Staatsorchester and the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra. He was also a scholarship holder of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin State Opera, performing under conductors including Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle.
He has repeatedly appeared as timpanist and percussionist with the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra, including performances at the Salzburg Festival.
As a soloist, he has performed with the SWR Symphony Orchestra under François-Xavier Roth and with the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg under Kent Nagano.
Concert tours and guest performances have taken him throughout Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Alongside his position as Professor for Percussion at the HfM Saar, Marc Strobel taught orchestral percussion at the HfMDK Frankfurt from 2024 to 2026 and regularly gives masterclasses and workshops at international institutions and festivals including the Järvi Academy, the University of Debrecen, the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Jeju International Percussion Academy in South Korea.
Together with his brother and chamber music partner, Kai Strobel, he co-founded the Boum-Percussion Academy, an international platform dedicated to the artistic development and networking of emerging percussionists.
A central focus of his artistic work lies in the synthesis of percussion, electronics and movement. In close collaboration with choreographers and companies including the Stuttgart Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Gauthier Dance Company and the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, he develops immersive productions and interdisciplinary performance formats. His works have been presented in theatres across Europe and featured by broadcasters including 3sat and at international events such as the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
As a creative director, Marc Strobel develops artistic concepts, strategies and brand collaborations at the intersection of culture, technology and instrument making.
Marc Strobel is an official endorser of Meinl Percussion Germany.
boum-percussion
...emerged from the desire of the brothers Kai & Marc Strobel to consider percussion beyond its classical-western understanding in a more holistic view. The ensemble formed its unique musical voice by combining electroacoustic music with ordinary objects and conventional instruments. Boum-Percussion is both laboratory for new sounds and a platform for various concert- and performance formats by the brothers Kai & Marc Strobel.
The range varies from concerts by the Boum-Percussion Group, including several percussionists, to solo performances and collaborations with artists from other disciplines. Furthermore, the brothers Kai & Marc Strobel's concern is the support of talented young drummers: music educational formats, children's concerts, and the "Boum-Percussion Academy" in Stuttgart.
They regularly attend music universities and music festivals in Italy, Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, the United States, Korea, China and many more. Recent projects have brought the Ensemble to concert tours in South Korea and Cyprus. Boum-Percussion is an endorser of Meinl-Percussion and Adams-Musical Instruments.
[buhm]
- an onomatopoetic expression of an impact in the literal sense and the sustainability of its experience. The subtle change of sound between the vowels "o" and "u" describes the complexity of a seemingly simple event.