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 quartet 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.