Johannes Menskes

Johannes Menskes (born February 11, 1927 in Lobberich, today Nettetal , Viersen district , North Rhine-Westphalia ) is a German choir director and composer .

Life

Johannes Menskes grew up in Lobberich (in Nettetal since 1970). After school he attended the Folkwang Music Academy in Essen , which he left with the Folkwang diploma and the state examination. In 1948 he took over a church choir , with which he also studied his own compositions.

In 1952 he already conducted three choirs, later he took over other choirs. In 1974 he founded the Menskes Choirs , with which he gave his first successful major concert in Grefrath. Further concerts and appearances on radio and television as well as several concert tours followed. The choirs recorded their first records in the 1980s.

Johannes Menskes is not only a choir director and conductor. He composes and arranges works for his choirs, sometimes with an accompanying orchestra. His most famous compositions include the Sun Waltz , the Serenata Romantica, and a new setting of the Ave Maria .

His work was honored in 1987 with the award of the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.

For reasons of age he gave up the management of most of the choirs in 2006, which resulted in the dissolution of the Menskes choirs . Menskes has been married to Gertrud since 1953 and has three sons.

Web links

• Works by and about Johannes Menskes in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the former Menskes choirs ( Memento from March 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )