Berlin Phil trombonist insists he owes his success to CSO’s Michael Mulcahy

If it were not for Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Michael Mulcahy, Jesper Busk Sørensen is not sure that he would have made it to the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the world’s most respected symphony orchestras.

“His simple approach to trombone playing was gold for me,” said the Danish trombonist. “I had a lot of issues. I was using too much force. I was playing with my muscles. Mulcahy just helped me to get rid of all the bad habits.”

Sørensen, who has been a member of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2009, will be on stage when the ensemble ends an eight-concert American tour on Nov. 26 with a Symphony Center Presents Orchestras performance.

After graduating from the Royal Music Academy in Århus, Denmark’s second-largest city, he joined the Århus Symfoniorkester in 2002, a respectable orchestra but nowhere on the level of the Berlin Philharmonic.

When he was in his early 20s, Sørensen first came to the United States for private lessons over five or six years with Mulcahy. Then, when Sørensen was 26, he took a leave from the Århus Symfoniorkester.

He traveled to Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music in Evanston for an intensive year of study, primarily with Mulcahy, a senior lecturer there, that incorporated the Alexander Technique, an approach to movement and posture. A few years later, Sørensen won an audition and gained a coveted position in the Berlin Philharmonic.

“This combination of the Chicago school of brass playing with the Alexander Technique, I think that was a key for me,” he said.

For his part, Mulcahy has nothing but praise for his former student. “Jesper is a highly cultured person,” the CSO trombonist said via email, “and already had the character of an artist before he studied with me. He was a tremendously responsive student who has accomplished great things. I always felt that Jesper was destined for a future with a very creative orchestra like the Berlin Philharmonic.”

As part of the Berlin Phil’s Chicago visit, Sørensen will present a trombone master class at Northwestern. “I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “Northwestern University was the key to my future, because that’s where it all happened — my level of playing. So I’m really grateful for that place and for Michael.”

In addition to seeing Mulcahy at the master class and perhaps at the concert the next day, he is trying to carve out time for them to socialize a bit as well. “I hope we will have time to catch up over dinner or a beer,” he said.