Lothar Koch was the principal oboist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...

 during the Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...

 era.

He was born in Velbert

Velbert

Velbert is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Langenberg, a district of Velbert, is well known as the location of the Sender Langenberg transmitter site.-Geography:...

.

He is recognised as the father of the German style of oboe playing which is characterised by a very rich and round tone, often referred to as a dark tone but corrected by Lothar Koch himself as rather being clear (Quote: "Es ist nicht dunkel, es ist hell!"). He claimed that as a youngster, he had no example to base his quality of tone on and spent time listening to opera singers to cultivate his unique tone.

In the nineties, Lothar Koch retired from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...

 and became a lecturer at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg.