Alexandra Gruber was born in Freudenstadt in the Black Forest, grew up in a home where music played a central role, and remains deeply connected to her roots in folk and wind music to this day. She began playing the piano at the age of five and took up the clarinet at nine. She majored in clarinet at the State University of Music in Stuttgart and, during that time, regularly performed in concerts with the Bachkollegium Stuttgart and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. However, her most formative artistic influence came from Herbert Gruber, then principal clarinetist with the SWR Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra. Even before completing her studies, Alexandra Gruber was appointed principal clarinetist of the Munich Philharmonic in 1998. Since then, she has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions, including in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto under the baton of James Levine, which was released on the orchestra’s own label, MPHIL. As a soloist, chamber musician, and educator, Alexandra Gruber is in high demand worldwide—in addition to giving master classes in Japan, Korea, China, Brazil, and Chile, among other places, she taught the clarinet major classes at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich and at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts from 2000 to 2005 and from 2016 to 2019. Her artistic expertise is highly sought after as a jury member at national and international competitions. Alexandra Gruber regularly performs as a guest artist with renowned orchestras.
