As a child, Holger Rohn wanted to be a musician. With a lot of effort and talent, he made his dream come true.
“Sometimes you’d find a Glenn Miller record at your grandmother’s and that always fascinated me,” recalls musician Holger Rohn. Holger Rohn was born in Freiburg in the St. Elisabeth hospital as a true “Freiburger Bobbele” – as Mayor Salomon recalled in his speech about the closure of the hospital – and grew up in Münstertal. That’s why it’s a Munster valley at heart. The musical gene was passed on to him from his great-grandfather. He played many instruments and had his own dance band.
Since he was a child, Holger Rohn had repeatedly heard the song “Baker Street” by British rock musician Gerry Rafferty and loved the repetitive saxophone part that gives this song its unmistakable character. “From that point on, it was always my dream to play the saxophone,” says Rohn.
However, fulfilling this dream would have blown the family budget of the family of five. Thus the dream of a musical education was initially denied him. So in the late 70’s he didn’t learn to play the clarinet in a club until he was ten years old. He explains his musical beginning like this: “As soon as I took the clarinet, I started listening to records (…) and playing them”. At the age of twelve he joined the Münstertal Trachtenkapelle. Only a short time later, Rohn fulfilled his dream of having his own alto saxophone and taught himself to play it.
Thanks to his talent and technique, the Obersteiger Musikanten of the Münstertal became aware of this and began “to sniff out this professional world (…)”. A year later he finally bought a tenor saxophone with his confirmation money. During this time, Holger Rohn was already earning money by playing dance music in the festival tents in the evenings. He received his first lessons at the age of 16 from the Freiburg jazz saxophonist Mike Schweizer. “When I was 17, it was clear to me that I was going to be a musician,” he continues.
And it still is today with body and soul. He teaches his students in the morning and afternoon, in the evening he rehearses in various formations such as the Kilian Heitzler Big Band and his Sauter Rohn Trio, or gives concerts with his Holger Rohn Jazz Quartet. He has worked with the likes of jazz trombonist Jiggs Whigham and American singer Marla Glen. He also performed as a soloist with the “Latin Jazz Sinfonica” orchestra at the 50th anniversary celebration of the “Burghausen Jazz Festival” in 2019.
Rohn is not only an outstanding musician, but also a composer. For example, he wrote the ballad “Shine Again,” which he performs repeatedly with the Holger Rohn Jazz Quartet. To share his passion, he teaches clarinet and saxophone at the Südlicher Breisgau youth music school. “When students come on stage and recite something, I have a smile on my face,” he says happily. So it’s a very fulfilling job.
Holger Rohn has advice for anyone who wants to make music a career: “If you want to be a musician, you need incredible will and you should love music more than anything.” However, if the audition doesn’t work out, you should have a plan B ready, such as studying to be a teacher. “If you don’t make it clear to yourself that you’re going through ups and downs about music (…), then you shouldn’t be doing it.”
