“The harp is Magdalena’s personal playground, a boundless space in which to make new discoveries"
BR Klassik

Conventions have never prevented German harpist Magdalena Hoffmann from following her creative instincts. A versatile and highly communicative musician, she performs as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral harpist, and also works extensively as an educator and creator of interdisciplinary projects. Her work combines the virtuosity of the modern concert harp with a deep interest in the instrument’s rich history and creative possibilities.
Hoffmann is principal harp of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO) and regularly performs a wide-ranging recital and chamber repertoire. Her projects often cross traditional genre boundaries, bringing together music, theatre and visual art. She has also premiered several works by contemporary composers. Her interdisciplinary work dates back to Odyssey on 47 Strings, a theatre concert for children first performed at the HarpMasters Festival in 2014, and has since developed into a diverse range of innovative concert formats and collaborations, most recently with tenor/film director/photographer Andrew Staples.
Her debut album, Footnotes (2018), was followed by two albums as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. Nightscapes (2022) explores the many musical faces of the night, bringing together notturni, waltzes and other other works inspired by the night, and received the 2022 Opus Klassik Award for Young Talent of the Year. Her second album, Fantasia, turns to the Baroque, presenting inventive and improvisatory works by J. S. Bach, his sons Wilhelm Friedemann and C. P. E. Bach, Handel and Weiss, originally written for keyboard or lute.

Born in Basel, Switzerland, Hoffmann began playing the harp at the age of six. She studied with Fabiana Trani at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, spending a year at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and later completed her Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Cristina Bianchi. Further studies with leading harpists including Fabrice Pierre, Isabelle Moretti, Alice Giles, Isabelle Perrin, Mara Galassi and Milda Agazarian broadened her artistic perspective.
In 2014, Hoffmann was appointed principal harp of the Tiroler Symphonieorchester Innsbruck. From 2015 to 2025, she taught concert harp at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium. In 2016, she received two special prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and in 2018 was appointed principal harp of the BRSO.
Hoffmann is also a cultural ambassador for CASA HOGAR, a charitable initiative providing education and a home for young girls in Colombia’s Chocó region.