Simon Pfisterer

Simon Pfisterer, born in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany, has been playing music for most of his life and started to play different bagpipes from all over Europe at the young age of eight. After gaining experience in his own musical tradition in Bavaria and Austria and in various musical traditions all over continental Europe, he found his love for Irish Traditional Music and especially the Uilleann Pipes in 2010 and has not stopped playing since. 

After being taught by German Uilleann Pipes master Mick Loos, Simon started studying in the BA programme “Irish Traditional Music and Dance” at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Ireland, which he graduated from in 2020 with a first class honours degree. In the course of private studies and studies at the University of Limerick, he was able to get tuition from some of the major figures in 21st century piping, including: Blackie O’Connell, Paddy Keenan, Mickey Dunne, Tiarnan O’Duinnchinn, Cillian Vallely, Brendan Ring, Padraig McGovern and many more.

Simon can be heard playing on albums and live with various formations: At the moment, he mainly tours with the Ireland-based quintet 3 on the Bund  and the Germany-based band Cara whom he joined in 2021. Also, he is part of the Austrian drone-music ensemble Unisonus the German Irish and Scottish trad band Breaking Stings as well as many side projects as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians all across the world.

Simon is a much-valued recording artist within the traditional music scene. His main focus in recording so far lay on album and video productions with his own bands and projects, but since fitting a private recording studio into his living space, Simon started offering his services as a studio musician featuring on several releases of other artists.

Are you looking for somebody to add that ‘special note’ to your music? Get in touch! 

Simon is a well-experienced teacher of one-on-one lessons, group classes, online and in person. Over the past years, Simon has developed teaching methods especially targeted towards teaching adults in an online environment. Students benefit from Simon’s abilities of explaining and analysing the basic structures of Irish traditional music and the intricate techniques associated with it. His classes give insight into the background of tunes and traditional music, as well as when, where and especially why to use ornamentation in certain places. 

Are you interested in lessons? Get in touch!