Franz Schindlbeck

Born in 1967 in Mallersdorf, Mr. Schindlbeck began drumming at age five. After serving as principal percussionist at the Mannheim Nationaltheater, he joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992. While mastering classical percussion, he is also actively performing as a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group and appears at numerous jazz festivals. In addition, Mr. Schindlbeck teaches younger musicians as an advisor at the Herbert von Karajan Foundation and as a professor at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin.

Mr. Schindlbeck heads the list of artists who are essential in helping Yamaha to achieve further advances in percussion. His initial encounter with Yamaha dates back to his purchase of Yamaha Recording Custom Drums at age 16 that was motivated by his idolization of legendary drummer Steve Gadd. Subsequently, in June 2001 when the Percussion Division was established at Yamaha Frankfurt Atelier, one of the Yamaha's wind instrument R&D bases, a Yamaha representative visited Mr. Schindlbeck to get his impressions of the latest Yamaha percussion thereby making the start of joint development of snare drums. This relationship eventually led to the development of the BSM-1450 and BSM-1465, which realize a diverse sound that is both strong and delicate. These Yamaha snare drums thus serve as valuable partners enabling the range of musical expression required by the world's premier Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.