Johannes Skudlik (born 16 February 1957) is a German organist and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

Life

Skudlik was born in Munich. After the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

, he studied church music and the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

at the

University of Music and Performing Arts Munich The University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München), also known as the Munich Conservatory, is a performing arts conservatory in Munich, Germany. The main building it currently occupies is ...

with and Franz Lehrndorfer and successfully completed the A-Examination. Since 1979, Skudlik has been cantor at the Mariae Himmelfahrt parish church in Landsberg am Lech. He founded and conducts the Landsberg Oratorio Choir, the Capella Cantabile Landsberg, the Con-brio Chamber Orchestra and the Europa Antiqua Consort for

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

. With various vocal and instrumental ensembles, Skudlik has been a guest at festivals in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. As a conductor, he has also appeared with symphonic works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky and Mahler, often together with members of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk and the

Munich Radio Orchestra The Munich Radio Orchestra (German: ''Münchner Rundfunkorchester'') is a German symphony broadcast orchestra based in Munich. It is one of the two orchestras affiliated with the Bavarian Radio (Bayerischer Rundfunk), the other being the Bavarian ...

. In 2008, Skudlik conducted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a performance of Bach's

Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctu ...

. In the same year, Skudlik gave a concert on the " Doppio Borgato", the pedal piano of the Italian pianist maker

Luigi Borgato Luigi Borgato (born in Gallarate, February 21, 1963) is an Italian piano-maker craftsman of handcrafted grand pianos. Master builder from Vicenza, Veneto, he improved and innovated technical aspects of piano making, which were later patented. ...

, which was performed for the first time in Germany. Skudlik is often engaged as interpreter or conductor of world

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

s. A particularly close collaboration links him with the composer

Enjott Schneider Enjott Schneider (born Norbert Jürgen Schneider 25 May 1950 in Weil am Rhein) is a German businessman, composer, musicologist, and music educator. He is best known as the chairman of the board of the German collecting society GEMA. As a compo ...

and, more recently, with the composer and organist

Jean Guillou Jean Victor Arthur Guillou (18 April 1930 – 26 January 2019) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue. Titular Organist at Saint Eustache in Paris, from 1963 to 2015, he was widely known as a composer of instrumental and vocal ...

. In the meantime, more than 20 CD recordings with

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, organ and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

as well as choral and oratorical works are available on the labels ambitus and Motette. Radio recordings were produced in cooperation with

RIAS Berlin RIAS (german: Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor; en, ''Radio in the American Sector'') was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War ...

, WGBH Radio Boston, the Polish Television, the Rai 1 and the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Skudlik is

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the "Landsberg Concerts", the "Bavarian Organ Summer", which was held for the first time in 2008, and the Palermo Organ Festival. He is also the initiator, artistic director and performer at European festivals: 2005 "Europe's Organ Festival Via Claudia Augusta"; 2006 "Mozart on his journey to...", 2008 at the "Euro-Via-Festival Paths to Rome" and in 2011 "Euro-Via-Festival: From Rome To Santiago". Furthermore, Skudlik is artistic director of the International Organ Competition "Orgelstadt Landsberg". In 2009 and 2010, Skudlik devoted himself mainly to the works of Jean Guillou: Guillou's ''La Révolte des Orgues'' for 9 organs, percussion and conductors was performed under Skudlik's direction in the Philharmonic Orchestras of Munich, Berlin and Cologne and further in Paris, Rome, Gdansk and Porto. In April 2018, the work was performed at the Elbphilharmonie on the occasion of Jean Guillou's 88th birthday.

References

External links

*
Landsberger Konzerte

Euro-Via Festival

(englisch)

im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek * ttp://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/kult/presse/2010/mai/410439/orgeltage.html Pressemeldung „Münchner Orgeltage 2010“
''Von Rom nach Santiago''.
In: ''Landsberger Tagblatt'', 10. Januar 2011

In: ''Landsberger Tagblatt'', 12. Dezember 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Skudlik, Johannes German classical organists German conductors (music) Early music 1957 births Living people Musicians from Munich