Kolja Lessing (born 15 October 1961) is a German violinist, pianist, composer and academic teacher. His focus as a soloist and chamber musician has been the neglected repertoire by composers who were ostracised under the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime. His recordings include four volumes of works by students of Franz Schreker in his master classes in Vienna and Berlin. Lessing has taught violin at the

Hochschule für Musik Würzburg The Hochschule für Musik Würzburg (University of Music Würzburg) was founded in 1797 by Franz Joseph Fröhlich as Collegium musicum academicum (Academic college of music). From 1921 to 1973, it was named Bayerisches Staatskonservatorium der Mu ...

and the

University of Music and Theatre Leipzig The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...

, and has been professor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart from 2000. He has been awarded numerous honours, especially for his dedication to the music of neglected composers.

Life

Lessing was born in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. He received his basic music education from his mother. From 1978, he attended the violin

master class A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed. "Masterclass" is als ...

Hansheinz Schneeberger Hansheinz Schneeberger (16 October 1926 – 23 October 2019)Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. There, he also studied piano with Peter Efler from 1979. He passed his concert examinations in 1982 and 1983. He also received formative impulses through his collaboration with

Berthold Goldschmidt Berthold Goldschmidt (18 January 190317 October 1996) was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England. The suppression of his work by Nazi Germany, as well as the disdain with which many Modernist critics elsewhere dismissed hi ...

, Ignace Strasfogel and

Zoltán Székely Zoltán Székely ( Hungarian: Székely Zoltán; 8 December 1903 in Kocs, Hungary – 5 October 2001 in Banff, Canada) was a violinist and composer. Biography Székely studied violin with Jenő Hubay and composition with Zoltán Kodály at the ...

. As a professor of violin, he taught at the

from 1989 to 1993, at the

from 1993, and followed a call to the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart in 2000. From 1998 to 2015, he was a regular guest lecturer at the

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

. Lessing has performed worldwide as a violinist and pianist, also giving musicological lectures and master classes at European and North American universities. Lessing has dedicated to wide-ranging repertoire, with a focus on works by composers who were ostracised under the

regime, including Franz Schreker and his circle of students. He revived stylistically different compositions for solo violin by

Haim Alexander Haim Alexander (Hebrew: חיים אלכסנדר; August 9, 1915 – March 18, 2012) an Israeli composer. Biography Alexander was born in Berlin, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Cen ...

, Tzvi Avni, Abel Ehrlich, Jacqueline Fontyn, David Paul Graham,

Ursula Mamlok Ursula Mamlok (February 1, 1923 – May 4, 2016) was a German-born American composer and teacher. Education and influences Mamlok was born as Ursula Meyer in Berlin, Germany, into a Jewish family, and studied piano and composition with Professor G ...

Krzysztof Meyer Krzysztof Meyer (born 11 August 1943) is a Polish composer, pianist, and music scholar, formerly Dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music (now Academy of Music in Kraków), and president of the Union of P ...

Klaus Hinrich Stahmer Klaus Hinrich Stahmer (born 25 June 1941) is a German composer and musicologist. He gave added to the development of music in the 1980s through multimedia works, including music with sound art sculptures and ). He also broke new artistic ground wi ...

, Hans Vogt.

composed a work for him that he premiered. As a violinist and a pianist, he premiered compositions including the piano concerto ''Rivages solitaires'' by Jacqueline Fontyn,

Rudolf Hindemith Rudolf Hindemith, since 1951 officially Paul Quest, pseudonym Hans Lofer (9 January 19007 October 1974) was a German cellist, composer and conductor. He was solo cellist of the Vienna State Opera, and played chamber music in the Amar Quartet. H ...

's Suite, Ignace Strasfogel's ''A Child's Day'', the violin concertos by Haim Alexander,

Sidney Corbett Sidney Corbett (born April 26, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American composer based in Germany. Biography Sidney Corbett was born in Chicago in 1960, studied music and philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and continued ...

's ''Yael'', works by Abel Ehrlich and Stefan Hippe,

's Allegro, ''A une Madone'' by

Dimitri Terzakis Dimitri Terzakis ( el, Δημήτρης Τερζάκης; born March 12, 1938 in Athens) is a Greek composer. His father was the author Angelos Terzakis. From 1959–1964 Terzakis studied composition with Yannis Papaioannou at the Athens Helle ...

, and ''Le Violon de la Mort'' by

Grete von Zieritz Grete von Zieritz (10 March 1899 – 26 November 2001) was an Austrian-German composer and pianist. Life Grete von Zieritz was born in Vienna, Austria into a noble family, and grew up in Vienna, Innsbruck and Graz. She received her first piano le ...

Recordings

Lessing has recorded extensively both with violin and piano, including numerous first and complete recordings, also with a focus on neglected composers. He made a series of four CDs of music by composers who studied with Schreker, both as violinist and as pianist. *

Johann Paul von Westhoff Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656 – buried 17 April 1705) was a German Baroque composer and violinist. One of the most important exponents of the Dresden violin school, he was among the highest ranked violinists of his day, and composed some of the ...

: Complete Suites for Solo Violin (Capriccio) *

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...

: 12 Fantasias for Solo Violin (Capriccio) * Ernst von Gemmingen: Complete Violin Concertos (cpo) *

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and ...

: The Art of Preluding, Op. 300 (cpo) *

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

: Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, cond: Christoph-Mathias Mueller (telos music) * Reger: Complete chamber music with Clarinet (Oehms) * Ignace Strasfogel: Complete Piano Works (Decca) *

Franz Reizenstein Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he succ ...

: Solo Sonatas for Piano, Viola and for Violin (eda records)Kolja Lessing / Franz Reizenstein: Solo Sonatas

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

* ''Franz Schreker's Masterclasses in Vienna and Berlin'', vol. 1-4, with works by

Karol Rathaus Karol Rathaus (Karl Leonhard Bruno Rathaus; also Leonhard Bruno; 16 September 1895 — 21 November 1954) was a German-Austrian Jewish composer who immigrated to the United States via Berlin, Paris, and London, escaping the rise of Nazism in German ...

Jerzy Fitelberg Jerzy Fitelberg (May 20, 1903 – April 25, 1951) was a Polish-American composer."Jerzy Fitelberg, 48, A Polish Composer," ''New York Times'' (April 27, 1951), p. 23. Biography Son of Grzegorz Fitelberg, Jerzy was born in Warsaw. He first stud ...

Wilhelm Grosz Wilhelm Grosz (11 August 1894 – 10 December 1939) (sometimes credited as Hugh Williams) was an Austrian composer, pianist, and conductor. Wilhelm Grosz was born in Vienna. He studied music with Richard Robert, Franz Schreker and Guido Adler. I ...

Vladas Jakubėnas Vladas Jonas Jakubėnas (Biržai, May 15, 1904 – Chicago, December 13, 1976) was a Lithuanian composer, pianist, musicologist and journalist.''Universitatis Jagellonica Cracoviensis acta scientiarum'' Page 371 Uniwersytet Jagielloński - 1982 "The ...

, Berthold Goldschmidt, Zdenka Ticharich, Kurt Fiebig, Alexander Ecklebe,

Felix Petyrek Felix Petyrek (14 May 1892 in Brno 1 December 1951 in Vienna) was an Austrian composer. He wrote stage works, songs, piano music (including duos and duets) in a Romantic style. Petyrek was a pupil of Franz Schreker and Guido Adler in Vienna. Du ...

, , Leon Klepper and Isco Thaler (eda records)

Compositions

Compositions by Lessing are held by the German National Library, including: * Sonata for clarinet solo 1978 * Two duos for clarinet and violin: ''The Journey into the Unknown'' 1979, ''The Beauty of a Dream'' 1980 * ''Gliding Figures'' for flute and viola 1998 * ''Sinking Mists'' for flute and alto flute 1998 Lessing wrote

cadenza In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...

s to Mozart's violin concertos K. 218 and K. 219, and to all violin concertos by Ernst von Gemmingen.

Awards

* 1999 , special prize for his commitment to ostracised Jewish composers * 2008

Deutscher Kritikerpreis Deutscher Kritikerpreis was a cultural prize awarded annually by the Association of German Critics (Verband der Deutschen Kritiker e.V.) from 1951 to 2009. This award was given for outstanding contributions in the fields of architecture, the fi ...

* 2015 Otto-Hirsch-Auszeichnung of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

* 2020

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

for his merit for ostracised composers

References

External links