Rick Johannes Peperkamp was born on September 8th, 1989 in Maastricht (Netherlands). He has been playing the trombone since he was eight and studied this instrument at the Folkwang University in Essen. During his studies he began to compose for brass ensembles and attended conducting lessons at the same time.
After his time in Essen he moved to Switzerland, where he received private lessons from Daniel Schweizer, the Founder and long-time chief conductor of the Zurich Symphonic Orchestra, and also studied orchestral conducting with Florian Ziemen at the Bern University of the Arts.
As a trombone player, he plays with the Salzburg Philharmonic, the Russian Chamber Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Theater. He shared the stage with international soloists such as Edita Grubereva, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Nikolaj Tokarev, Mischa Maisky, Eva Lind, Christian Lanza, Sergei Nakariakov, Ole-Edvard Antonsen, Otto Sauter, Nils Landgren, Radek Barborak, Frank Lloyd, Janoska Ensemble, and Chris Thompson.
As a composer he has written various pieces for chamber music, brass ensemble & symphonic wind band including a Trombone Concerto which was premiered by The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/Orkest van het Oosten. His works Megalodon, The Knight of Koppigen, Papillon and Cleopatra premiered in Germany with great success.
His compositions and arrangements have been published on his website www.probonemusic.com
His symphonic poem Typhon vs. Zeus Opus 32 and Ehingas for the municipality of Eching are planned for April 2023
As a conductor, he gained early experience with top-class amateur orchestras in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany, but also conducted professional orchestras such as the Moravian Philharmonic Olmütz Czech Republic, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, Berlin Sinfonietta, Bern Chamber Orchestra, The London Classical Soloists, the Medizin Orchestra Bern, Musikkorps of the Bundeswehr Siegburg-Bonn, and the military band of Upper Austria as a guest.
He took part in international conducting master classes with Lior Shambadal, Alim Shakh, Henrie Adams, Maurice Hamers, as well as the Opera-in-Starnberg with Prof. Georg Friedrich Sandmann, where he conducted Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Rick was chief conductor of the Passau University Orchestra for 3 years.
During his time in Passau, he premiered a number of musical lost treasures by composers from the late Romantic era. He also worked with soloists such as Aliya Vodovozova and German Hornsound. A flute concerto was dedicated to him in 2020 by the South African composer Heinrich Lategan.
Together with Pastor Dr. Michael Gnan, he initiated the project “Spiritual Miniatures” from the diocese in the summer of 2020 and has been organizing the musical accompaniment for it since then.
Today he lives in Munich and leads the Amper Philharmonic, the (SBO) Symphonic Wind Orchestra Germering, Musikverein St. Andreas Eching and works as a low brass teacher in the Musikschule Blutenburg.
He is assistant to the conductor Anton Zapf.
With the SBO Germering, Rick has received awards among other things, for his film music arrangements of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Star Wars Symphony, and the collaboration with trumpet legend Allen Vizzutti. In 2020 composer Torstein-Aagaard Nilsen dedicated his piece Circius to Rick.
In 2021 he became the first conductor in the history of IMKA (International Internet Music Competition) to win the 1. prize in Sarajevo, and was a finalist at the Lanyi Conducting Competition in Subotica, Serbia.
In July 2022 he won several prices: a 2nd Prize at the Music and Stars Awards in Professional Conducting and in September he won the 1st Prize at the 21st Century Prominent Musicians Award and best performer to represent Germany. He was also selected as a finalist for the ECM: European Classical Music Awards Grand Prix in and won the Conductor of the Year Award. He is the 2022 Manchester International Music Competition 2nd edition Grand Prize winner and also received a special prize the Excellent Technique Award. Rick also won a 1st Prize in Conducting and received an outstanding technique award at the 1st edition of the Schubert International Music Competition and a 1st Prize at the Beethoven Competition.
