Ralf Zartmann

Ralf Zartmann is a drummer, timpanist, percussionist and percussion teacher. As a musician, he is familiar with all genres – always on the lookout for something new and innovative. In addition to his solo activities (including with Dame Evelyn Glennie), he is a regular guest with major symphony orchestras, theater productions and festivals. Ralf Zartmann has played percussion and timpani with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein – several times as a soloist. For years, he created independent, cross-genre concert projects with the band “trio crossOper” and soloists from the ensemble. Ralf Zartmann also leads the “RZ PercussionGROUP”, a specialist ensemble for percussion music. The ensemble has been part of several productions at various concert halls and festivals in NRW, among others in cooperation with the WDR Rundfunkchor.
One of his favorite instruments is the baroque timpani. For this instrument, he has revived works from the 17th century for up to eight timpani and performed them throughout Europe. In 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, he was also a soloist at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and in 2022/2023 at the Oper Wuppertal in the opera “Gold!”. In 2022, Zartmann once again discovered brass music. Since then he has held a permanent position as solo timpani/drumset with the Landespolizeiorchester NRW.