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Erika Na

What would you do if your goal was to achieve something no one had ever done and which everyone told you was impossible?
German musician Felix Klieser found himself in just such a situation; the 34-year-old has become a French horn virtuoso despite being born without arms.
At his fourth concert in Hong Kong, on April 7, Klieser will perform a programme including Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4, K. 495 with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.
Ahead of the performance, Klieser spoke to the Post about resilience. With the right mindset, he believes your starting point in life matters less than you might think.

Klieser grew up in Göttingen, a small city in central Germany.
“I was born in a family, and in a society, where there was no one making music around me. There were no musicians, and even for Christmas, no one was playing Christmas songs or anything,” he says.
When Klieser was four, he told his parents he wanted to learn the French horn. “They looked at me and asked, ‘What do you mean? What is a French horn?’,” he recalls.
To this day, he does not know how he encountered the instrument. But he remembers his determination was unshakeable. He calls his childhood pull towards the French horn a “little miracle” he still cannot fully explain.
Göttingen had only one music school and one horn teacher. When Klieser and his parents asked about lessons the instructor flagged a problem – and it wasn’t that he did not have arms.
Successful people … have mental strength. When you have this, the situation you are born in is not that important
Felix Klieser
“The biggest problem was that I was quite young, and playing French horn requires you to have big enough lungs to press the air through your lips. As a four-year-old boy, you don’t have the same capabilities as a grown-up,” Klieser says.
They suggested he play a different instrument, something a bit easier, like the piano. He could switch to the French horn later, they said.
“But for me, the plan was not to make music or just go to the music school. My plan was to learn the French horn,” he says.
The teachers eventually gave into the four-year-old’s persistence. But progress was slow.
“Creating one note could take weeks. It took a long time until I was able to play a little piece.”
What began as a hobby turned into something more when Klieser, at nine years old, won a nationwide competition for young musicians.
A horn professor at the University of Music and Drama in Hanover noticed him, invited him for a trial lesson and accepted him as a student.

By 13, Klieser was studying music at the university through a special programme for young students. It was his first step into the professional music world.
“Before going to the university, everything at the music school was cosy and sweet, designed for kids. At the university the expectations were entirely different,” he says.
Surrounded by horn professors and fellow musicians, Klieser faced unique challenges that no one could guide him through.
A key French horn technique, “hand stopping”, involves placing the right hand inside the bell to adjust pitch and timbre and add colour to the instrument’s sound. For Klieser, who plays seated with his left toes on the keys and his right leg stabilising him, there was no way to do this.
“Everyone told me that it was absolutely impossible to play the instrument without the right hand on the bell. I had to find a solution for me, which no one had tried before. There has not been a horn player without hands,” he says.
With no teachers, guidebooks or precedents to guide him, Klieser had to experiment relentlessly.
“The only way I could go about it was to try something, listen to myself, and change some technical things. For instance, when I change the speed of the air, my lips, the position of something, how does the colour of the sound change?”
The reason I’m playing concerts is to make people happy
Felix Klieser
The experience taught him a lesson that applies to life beyond playing the French horn.
“Successful people succeed because they are able to find solutions and they have mental strength. When you have this, the situation you are born in is not that important any more.”
Klieser has overcome extraordinary hurdles to become a big name in classical music, winning numerous major awards, recording several albums and performing pieces other musicians have written especially for him.
He has played as a soloist with some of the world’s leading orchestras, and made his BBC Proms debut two years ago playing the same Mozart concerto he will perform in Hong Kong with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in front of nearly 6,000 people.
In 2024 he released his second book, Imagine It’s Not Possible – Yet Someone Does it Anyway.
He says he now performs to bring joy and connect with people, and to transcend language barriers through music, rather than to prove himself.
“I don’t have to show everyone that I can play the French horn. I think that part of my life is behind me. The reason I’m playing concerts is to make people happy. The most beautiful thing is when you go on stage, enjoy what you are doing and have this feeling that the people in the concert are having a beautiful time,” Klieser says.
“Felix Klieser + CCOHK”, Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, April 7, 8pm. Tickets available via Urbtix.


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Felix Klieser plays the French horn. Photo: courtesy of Felix Klieser

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Klieser plays the French horn using the toes of his left foot while seated on a chair. He uses his right foot to stabilise himself. Photo: courtesy of Felix Klieser

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German born without arms, who plays the French horn with his left foot, talks about being resilient ahead of his latest concert in Hong Kong


German born without arms, who plays the French horn with his left foot, talks about being resilient ahead of his latest concert in Hong Kong.


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