Johannes Wolfgang Zender was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festivals.
Heribert Beissel was a German conductor. While based in Bonn for decades, as conductor at the Bonn Opera and as founder and conductor of the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, he also held leading positions in Halle (Saale) and Frankfurt (Oder) after the German reunification. His discography covers composers from Bach to Debussy.
The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in Essen in the Ruhr area, with additional facilities in Duisburg, Bochum, and Dortmund, and, since 2010, at the Zeche Zollverein, a World Heritage Site also in Essen. The Folkwang University is home to the international dance company Folkwang Tanz Studio (FTS). Founded as Folkwangschule, its name was Folkwang Hochschule from 1963 until 2009.
The Rheingau Musik Festival (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, in the wine-growing Rheingau region between Wiesbaden and Lorch.
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Jörg Widmann is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2023, Widmann was the third most performed living contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freiburg, he is composition professor at the Barenboim–Said Akademie. His most important compositions are the opera Babylon, an oratorio Arche, Viola Concerto, Kantate and the concert overture Con brio. Widmann has written musical tributes to Classical and Romantic composers. He was awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art in 2018 and the Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 2023. He was Gewandhaus Composer in Leipzig and became Composer in Residence for the Berlin Philharmonic.
Achim Fiedler is a German conductor.
The Munich Chamber Orchestra is a German chamber orchestra based in Munich. Its primary concert venue is the Prinzregententheater, Munich. The MKO also gives concerts in Munich at such venues as the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Schwere Reiter, and at the Muffathalle during the Munich Biennale.
Hans Christoph Becker-Foss is a German conductor, organist and harpsichordist and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover.
Hans Karl-Friedrich Beringer is a German choral and orchestral conductor, who was from 1978 to 2011 the conductor of the Windsbacher Knabenchor.
Johannes Klumpp is a German conductor.
Ralf Otto is a German conductor, especially known as a choral conductor and academic teacher. He founded the Vokalensemble Frankfurt, focused on contemporary music and winning competitions including Let the Peoples Sing. Since 1986, he has been director of the Bachchor Mainz, with a tradition of performing Bach cantatas in broadcast church services. He added late romantic and contemporary works to their repertoire and made international tours with them. They made world premiere recordings of some cantatas by Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, among other recordings. Otto was professor of choral conducting at the Folkwang Hochschule from 1990 to 2006, when he took the same position at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz.
Jörg Breiding is a German choral conductor and academic teacher. He has been the conductor of the Knabenchor Hannover since 2002. He taught at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, and has been professor of choral conducting at the Folkwang Hochschule.
Wolf-Dieter Hauschild was a German conductor, choirmaster, artistic director, composer, harpsichordist and university lecturer.
Sebastian Küchler-Blessing is a German organist and music educator.
Helmut Koch was a German conductor, choir leader, composer, and academic teacher. He was recording manager for the Berliner Rundfunk from 1945, where he founded the Solistenvereinigung Berlin, the Kammerorchester Berlin and the Großer Chor des Berliner Rundfunks. He conducted a recording of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1949, and later also contemporary classical music by composers including Hanns Eisler, Fritz Geißler, Ernst Hermann Meyer and Ruth Zechlin. He was professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" from its beginning. After working as a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin, he became Generalmusikdirektor. He was the first conductor of the Berliner Singakademie in East Berlin, and held the position until his death.
Heinz Dressel was a German conductor.
Wolfgang Marschner was a German violinist, teacher of violin, composer and conductor. He was concertmaster of the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and instrumental in world premieres of contemporary music. He was professor at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, the Musikhochschule Köln, the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music and, for more than three decades, at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. He also taught at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse.
The Philharmonische Staatsorchester Halle was a symphony orchestra in Halle that existed from 1946 to 2006, which functioned as a concert orchestra and was last predominantly supported by the Land of Saxony-Anhalt. As a result of the fusion with the Orchester des Opernhauses Halle, the Orchestra was merged into the Staatskapelle Halle in 2006.
Wilfried Gruhn is a German violinist, musicologist, music educator, and professor emeritus at universities in Germany and abroad. His focus is the music education of small children. He founded and directed the Gordon Institute of early childhood music learning in Freiburg in 2003. He is engaged in several international organisations such as International Society for Music Education (ISME) and the Internationale Leo Kestenberg Gesellschaft which published Leo Kestenberg's complete writings in six volumes.
