Thomas Kurzhals

Thomas Kurzhals during an appearance with the star combo Meißen in August 2011

Thomas Kurzhals (born December 13, 1953 in Ronneburg ; † January 2, 2014 in Glauchau ) was a German keyboardist , composer and rock musician . He became known as a member of the bands star combo Meißen and Karat .

Life

Kurzhals came to music through his father, who played in the Wismut in the shawm orchestra . He started playing the accordion at the age of eight , learned sheet music and switched to piano at the age of eleven .

In 1970 Kurzhals began his five-year course at the Dresden University of Music . During his studies he played in various amateur bands, including the Exitas Combo from Freiberg . Martin Schreier from the star combo Meißen was reported to have a good organist playing there and he was recruited. Kurzhals joined the star combo Meißen in 1972 as a keyboardist and composer. Among other things, he composed several pieces for the concept album Weißes Gold and wrote most of the arrangements.

At the beginning of the 1980s the band name was changed to Stern Meißen , which also resulted in a change of style and constant line-up. The band was hardly accepted by the fans and only a few concerts took place.

In 1984 Henning Protzmann from Karat asked Kurzhals. He was looking for a keyboard player who was always available and who would be a travel cadre . Protzmann had inquired about Kurzhals in advance and found out that Kurzhals met these conditions. In the same year he switched to Karat as a keyboard player. His first appearance with Karat took him to Bersenbrück in Lower Saxony . Others followed, including to Cuba and the Hockenheimring .

Kurzhals set up his own recording studio in Erkner in 1992 and played at Karat until a replacement was found for him. Until 1999 he mainly produced radio and commercials and worked with Hans-Joachim Preil and Eberhard Cohrs . The recording studio was later converted into a music studio. He produced for Karat, Katrin Sass and the Volk und Wissen publishing house , among others .

In 1996 he returned to the star combo Meißen. After renewed internal problems, Kurzhals left the band in December 2002 and from then on devoted himself intensively to his music studio. Intermittent appearances, such as with Werther Lohse in 2006 on the Berlin Gendarmenmarkt at the East Rock Symphony and in 2007 on Thomas Natschinski's 60th birthday , followed.

Kurzhals returned to the star combo Meißen in 2008. With Katrin Frenzel he produced the song Kinderzeit in 2009 and a song in 2010 for the return of FC Erzgebirge Aue to the 2nd Bundesliga . The resulting collaboration resulted in the Thomas Kurzhals & Friends project with Katrin Frenzel and guitarist Bastian Morgner in 2010 . Kurzhals contributed most of the compositions for the 2011 album by the star combo Meißen Lebensuhr .

On April 8, 2013, in the Stage Theater on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, the recordings for the first live DVD of the star combo Meißen were made together with Kurzhals, which was released on January 10, 2014 as a double DVD / CD under the title Stern- Combo Meißen in the Theater am Potsdamer Platz was released a few days after Kurzhals' death.

On the night of January 2, 2014, Thomas Kurzhals died in Glauchau after a brief, serious illness. On February 7th, 2014 he was buried in Erkner with great sympathy from many friends and fans. His last musical work can be found on the Stern-Combo-Meißen albums Music of our Generation - The Biggest Hits and Senftenberg 2013, which were released in September 2014.

Compositions

• Take off your shoes , star combo Meißen & Nina Hagen, 1976
• When I dream , star combo Meissen, 1977
• Mothers go away without a sound , star combo Meißen, 1977
• Light in the Dark , Star Combo Meißen, 1977
• Into the Cosmos , star combo Meissen, 1978
• The picture , star combo Meissen, 1978
• Overture (White Gold) , Star Combo Meißen, 1979
• Des Goldes Bann (White Gold) , Star Combo Meißen, 1979
• Escape (White Gold) , Star Combo Meißen, 1979
• Doubt (White Gold) , Star Combo Meissen, 1979
• White Gold (White Gold) , Star Combo Meissen, 1979
• Give me what you can give , star combo Meissen, 1979
• What remains , star combo Meissen, 1979
• Alone (Journey to the Center of Man) , Stern Meißen, 1981
• Turning (journey to the center of man) , Stern Meißen, 1981
• Romance (Journey to the Center of Man) , Stern Meißen, 1981
• Inner world (journey to the center of man) , Stern Meißen, 1981
• Human time (journey to the center of man) , Stern Meißen, 1981
• One and the other , Stern Meißen, 1982
• Strike of the hour , Stern Meißen, 1982
• The couple , Stern Meißen, 1982
• On the same track , Stern Meißen, 1982
• We are the sun , star Meissen, 1983
• Today is a new day , Stern Meißen, 1983
• Theater , Stern Meißen, 1983
• Touched the moon with my hand , karat, 1985
• Hallelujah World , Karat, 1985
• The doppelganger , Karat, 1987
• Always like this , Karat, 1989
• Day of all days , karat, 1989
• Rainbow (instrumental) , Karat, 1991
• Weightless , Karat, 1991
• Wonder , carat, 1991
• The Garden of Eden , Karat, 1991
• Rain and Ice , Karat, 1991
• Storm in a glass of water , Karat, 1991
• Visions? , Carat, 1991
• TNTK , star combo Meissen, 2007
• The short life of Raimund S. , Stern-Combo Meißen, 2009
• Lifetime clock , star combo Meissen, 2011
• The second look , star combo Meißen, 2011
• Losing is pointless , star combo Meißen, 2011
• Seen like that, star combo Meißen, 2011
• Waldesstille , star combo Meißen, 2011
• Yellow Elbe , star combo Meißen, 2011
• Lebensblues , star combo Meißen, 2013

Classic adaptations

• Finlandia , Jean Sibelius , 1976
• Rhapsody in Blue , George Gershwin , 1976
• A Night on the Bald Mountain , Modest Petrowitsch Mussorgsky , 1977
• The old castle , Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, 1978
• Spring , Antonio Vivaldi , 1979

Web links

Commons : Thomas Kurzhals  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Thomas Kurzhals in the catalog of the German National Library
• Interview on deutsche-mugge
• Discography of the star combo Meißen
• Thomas Kurzhals at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Kurzhals died at the age of 60. In: Rheinische Post from January 2, 2014 (accessed January 2, 2014).