Wolfgang Kohlhaußen

Wolfgang Kohlhaußen

Wolfgang Kohlhaußen (born December 13, 1947 in Osnabrück ) is a German violinist and orchestra conductor .

Life

W. Kohlhaußen received his first violin lessons at the age of 6. After beginning his studies with Cyril Kopatschka at the Conservatory in Osnabrück, he developed a lively concert activity with the young Osnabrück String Quartet, which he founded and directed as primary violinist . He received artistic impulses on international courses - a. a. at the Salzburg Mozarteum - with Enrico Mainardi (chamber music) and Bruno Maderna (conducting). His further violin development was shaped by encounters and private studies with Ivri Gitlis . Years of extensive international concert tours followed as a member of the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra in Heilbronn and the Assmann Quartet (Frankfurt), which was particularly dedicated to contemporary literature.

From 1975 Kohlhaußen worked as an assistant to Tibor Varga and Lukas David at the Detmold University of Music . In 1977 he founded his chamber orchestra fonte di musica , which he subsequently developed into an internationally recognized ensemble. At his long-term residence in Hameln, Kohlhaußen and his orchestra installed their own concert series that has existed for over 25 years since the late 1970s. Numerous concert tours and guest performances have taken the chamber orchestra to important events such as the Bregenz Festival , the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival , the Millstatt International Music Weeks and the Bad Hersfeld Festival, as well as traveling and the like. a. to Bulgaria, France, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta. For more than 10 years, fonte di musica regularly gave guest performances of several days at the Salzburg Fortress Concerts. In September 2007 the orchestra celebrated its 30th anniversary with an anniversary concert in Hameln.

Recordings by the orchestra were broadcast on NDR , WDR , ORF and ZDF .

CD recordings by W. Kohlhaußen are available with his chamber orchestra and in the violin / piano duo with his brother Thomas Kohlhaußen (Duisburg). The recordings include works by Bach , Dvořák , Enescu , Giornovichi , Kreisler , Mendelssohn , Paganini , Shostakovich , Stamitz , Wieniawski and Zach .

At the same time Kohlhaußen always took care of the repertoire for violin and piano, gave violin and chamber music courses (Bucharest, Mittenwald) and maintains contacts with contemporary composers (see world premieres).

Kohlhaußen has lived in Munich since 2000. In addition to his concerts, he works there as a lecturer for the "Kulturstiftung München". To promote young musicians, he organizes discussion concerts for children in schools.

World premieres

Together with his ensemble "fonte di musica" Kohlhaußen premiered the "Parenthesen" for solo violin and string orchestra by Thomas Krämer (* 1952).

Jörn Arnecke (* 1973) dedicated his "Sonata auf G" for solo violin to the violinist in 1993 .

Harald Genzmer (1909–2007) composed "Irische Gesänge" for soprano and violin for Kohlhaußen and his then wife Regine Haarmann , premiered on October 29, 1997 at Elmau Castle in the presence of the composer.

For the 30th anniversary of the "fonte di musica" chamber orchestra , Wilfried M. Danner (* 1956) composed the work "come esser puo ch'io viva ..." for solo strings; World premiere in September 2007 in Hameln.

In 2010 followed, also by Wilfried M. Danner (* 1956) the work "... Full of deep peace..." - Snapshots, scenes and fragments based on a poem by Hermann Hesse - for solo violin. The world premiere took place by Wolfgang Kohlhaußen on August 14, 2012 in the St. Johannis Church in Petersdorf on Fehmarn.

Discography

• "Stamitz - Family", ARS production Schumacher, 1989
• "Jan Zach: Complete Works for Strings", ARS production Schumacher, 1990
• “Magic of the violin”, ARS production Schumacher, 1994
• "Mendelssohn - Pergolesi - Genzmer - Dvorak", ARS production Schumacher, 1999

Web links

• Official website
• Chamber orchestra "fonte di musica"