Markus Horn (musician)

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Markus Horn (* 1972 in Schwalmstadt ) is a German jazz pianist , composer and music educator who is stylistically classified in contemporary European jazz.

Life

Horn grew up in Borken , North Hesse , where he received lessons on the electronic organ at the age of 6, and then continued to be taught by a relative, before taking classical piano lessons at the age of 14. At the age of 16 Markus became a pianist in the big band of his high school, Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Homberg (Efze) . With three musicians from the ensemble (including the singer Anette von Eichel ) he founded the ensemble “Prelude” a little later, which won first prize in the Hessian state competition “ Jugend jazzt ” in 1991 . In 1992, the group received a second prize, Horn earned in the solo competition first prize and was a pianist in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Hesse, where he played until 1997 and by lecturers such as John Clayton, Jiggs Whigham , Christof Lauer , Michael Kuttner , Ray Brown or Geller Herb trained and played with guest musicians such as Albert Mangelsdorff , Silvia Droste , Tony Lakatos , Randy Brecker , Bill Ramsey and Ack van Rooyen .

After completing his preliminary studies at the DJAM jazz institute in Amsterdam in 1992 , Horn began studying jazz / popular music at the Hanover University of Music and Drama in 1993 , which he successfully completed. Parallel to his studies he played in various ensembles, a. a. the quintet "Naima", consisting of Christian Weidner (sax), Christian Meyers (tp), Markus Horn (p), Hanns Höhn (bs) and Simon Zimbardo (dr), which won first prize in the 1997 national competition "Jugend jazzt" . Together with the bassist Hanns Höhn and the drummer Simon Zimbardo, he formed a rhythm group that performed in jazz symphonic and film music projects with large orchestras and accompanied numerous choirs (including the jazz choir of the German Singers Association). In a duo with the Greek mezzo-soprano Theodora Baka, he set poems by Greek poets to music from 1998 to 2001. In 2007 the American poet Robert Frost set to music for the duo with the singer Claudia Burghard.

In 1999 Markus Horn recorded the much-acclaimed CD "Land's End" with the Trio Solea . The trio's current CD "New to Old" was released in November 2015 on Laika Records.

In 2008 the renowned Viennese label "Phoenix Edition" released tango-inspired compositions for two pianos and piano four hands, which were recorded by Duo Villarceaux ( Alexandra Sostmann & Judith Mosch) and have since found their way into the repertoire of numerous piano duos around the world.

Since 2004 he has combined Fritz Lang's world-famous silent film with his new piano soundtrack in the solo project Metropolis . Successful performances found u. a. held at the Teaneck International Film Festival (USA), at the Società del Giardino in Milan , at the Centro Cultural in Santiago de Chile, at the Sofia International Film Festival (Bulgaria) and at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (California).

In November 2015, Markus Horn presented his new score for FW Murnau's silent film masterpiece Nosferatu at the Teaneck International Film Festival in New Jersey, followed by further screenings in Washington, New York, California and Turkey. Concerts with a wide variety of line-ups have taken Markus Horn to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, England, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the USA, Chile, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.

Together with the actor Wanja Mues and the cellist Stephan Braun , the reading "The Battle for the South Pole", set to music by Markus Horn, premiered in May 2018, centered on the short story of the same name by Stefan Zweig .

In addition to his concert and composition activities, Horn works as a music teacher at workshops and has been a lecturer for jazz piano at the Hanover University of Music, Theater and Media since 2005 .

Together with Hans-Winfried Auel, Markus Horn is also the author of the star map "Celestial Constellations" (1995) and the book "Sternspuren - Der Himmel über Nordhessen" (2000). Together they created the astronomical multi-media show "Journey through the starry sky", the focus of which is the 32 m², according to their own statements, the "largest noctilucent star map in the world".

Discographic notes

  • Offshore Horizons (2017) Fire Orange Project
  • New to Old (2015) Solea
  • Tango Nuevo (2008) Duo Villarceaux (Tango-inspired compositions and arrangements for two pianos and piano four hands by Markus Horn)
  • Breakout (2007) >>> vocality
  • Distante (2006) Gunnar Hofmann & Band
  • Dreamscapes (2003) Thomas Richter & Band
  • Children's Games (2002) Iris Kramer & Strings (with an arrangement by Markus Horn)
  • Get up for a groovy night (2001) Begoo
  • Vertigo (1998) Naima
  • Land's End (1999) Solea
  • Magic Morning (1983) Landesjugendjazzorchester Hessen feat. Dee Daniels & Randy Brecker

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Great moments of mankind by Stefan Zweig - text in the Gutenberg project. Accessed November 8, 2018 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Horn, Markus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz pianist, composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwalmstadt