Gunther Baumann (Author)

Gunther Baumann (born October 25, 1952 in Cologne ) is a German journalist , author and translator who has lived in Vienna since 1968.

Career

In 1968 Baumann came to Vienna at the age of 15 because his father changed jobs . After graduating from high school in 1970, he worked for a few months in the Leverkusen local editorial office of the Kölnische Rundschau, before joining the editorial team of the Wiener Zeitung “ Die Presse ” in October 1970 . In 1979, after a six-month trip to Latin America, he founded the Austrian music and hi-fi magazine “Vox” as editor-in-chief at Erb-Verlag in Vienna. At the same time, at the invitation of the then head of culture Karl Löbl , he began to write as a rock and jazz critic for the Wiener Kurier .

In April 1982 Gunther Baumann joined the culture department of the "Kurier", which was then headed by Herbert Hufnagl . With an interruption in the years 1987–1990 he stayed with the "Kurier" until 2006, where he wrote about rock and jazz as well as about theater, musicals, cabaret and film. From 1990 to 1993 he was a member of the internationally active chief reporter team of the "Kurier". His missions have taken him to Israel, Jordan, Iraq (meeting Saddam Hussein ), Nicaragua (meeting Daniel Ortega ), Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Thailand. In the Austrian National Council election campaign in 1990, he accompanied the then Federal Chancellor Dr. Franz Vranitzky .

In addition to his work as a culture editor and reporter, Baumann designed the weekly special page "Flugwelt" for "Kurier" from 1991 to 2006 - at that time the only regular special page in a German-language daily newspaper on aviation issues. For this activity he was awarded the Aviation Publication Prize of the Austrian Aero Club in 2001.

In the cultural sector , Baumann had been active as artistic consultant for Emmy Werner , the director of the Vienna Volkstheater , since 1987 . As part of this function, he completed five assistant directors and wrote his first translation of a play: The Broadway drama "A Question of Honor" by Aaron Sorkin premiered on January 17, 1993 at the Volkstheater Vienna. Baumann later wrote new translations (dialogues and lyrics) of the musicals Victor / Victoria and A Chorus Line , which were played at the Stockerau Festival in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

In 2002 Baumann published his first book, the Joe Zawinul biography "A Life from Jazz". In 2004 he wrote the report volume "Behind the Headlines" for the 50th anniversary of the "Kurier".

From 2006 to 2012 Baumann was Head of the Film Department and Deputy Head of Culture at the new Vienna daily newspaper Austria .

In 2013 Baumann founded the online film magazine FilmClicks, which accompanies the Austrian film festivals Viennale, Diagonale and Crossing Europe as an online media partner.

From March 2015 to June 2017, Gunther Baumann worked as a permanent film expert for the Austrian private broadcaster ServusTV with weekly appearances on the programs "Servus am Morgen" and "Servus am Abend" .

membership

• Austrian PEN Club
• 1. FC Cologne

Publications

• Zawinul: A life from jazz , Residenz Verlag 2002, ISBN 978-3701712915
• Behind the headlines: time. Newspaper. Current affairs. 50 years of Kurier , with Peter Rabl, Linde Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3714200195

Web links

• Gunther Baumann on FilmClicks
• Short biography and reviews of works by Gunther Baumann at perlentaucher.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Premiere in Stockerau: Alfons Haider brought Maya Hakvoort and Christoph Zadra.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
2. ↑ Kultur-channel.at: Stockerau Open Air Festival: A Chorus Line (2012)
3. ↑ ilmclicks.at: Imprint