Martin Schmeding (born 1975) is a German church musician, concert organist and academic teacher, who has made recordings of the complete organ works by composers such as

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...

, Franz Schmidt,

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 ...

and

Tilo Medek Tilo Medek, originally Müller-Medek (22 January 1940 – 3 February 2006), was a German classical composer, musicologist and music publisher. He grew up in East Germany, but was inspired by the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He composed radio plays and ...

Career

Born in

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

, Schmeding studied church music, music pedagogic, recorder, organ, conducting, harpsichord and music theory at the

Musikhochschule Hannover A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

, at the

Sweelinck Conservatory The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch Music school, conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational ...

in Amsterdam and the

Robert Schumann Hochschule The Robert Schumann Hochschule (Robert Schumann University of Music and Media) is a school for music studies at the university level located in Düsseldorf. The University has a student body of some 850 coming from over 40 countries. Forty-seven f ...

in Düsseldorf. His teachers included the organist Jean Boyer, Ulrich Bremsteller, Hans van Nieuwkoop, and . In 1999 he succeeded Oskar Gottlieb Blarr as cantor and organist at the

Neanderkirche The Neanderkirche (Neander Church) is a Protestant church in the centre of Düsseldorf, the Altstadt. The building in early Baroque style was completed in 1687 and later named after the Reformed minister and hymn writer Joachim Neander. It is no ...

in Düsseldorf. From 2002 to 2004, he was the ''Kreuzorganist'' at the

Kreuzkirche The Dresden Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is a Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. It is the main church and seat of the ''Landesbischof'' of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, and the largest church building in the Free State o ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. In 2004 he was appointed professor at the

Hochschule für Musik Freiburg ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

, where he has been president of the institute for church music from 2012. He is ''Titularorganist'' of the , and the conductor of the Herdermer Vokalensemble. From 2015 he has also been a professor of organ at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater 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 ...

.Personal Homepage, section "teaching"
(in German). Retrieved 18 June 2022. Berliner Dom 007

Schmeding recorded, among others, the complete organ works by

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

, Franz Schmidt and

. He performed Reger's works for the label

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forer ...

, completed in 2016, on thirteen different organs from the composer's time, including Walcker organs, at

St. Anne's Church, Annaberg-Buchholz St. Anne's Church (german: St.-Annen-Kirche) in Annaberg-Buchholz, German Saxony, Free State of Saxony, is a hall church whose architectural style is on the boundary between the Gothic architecture, Late Gothic and Saxon Renaissance. With a leng ...

, at the and the

Lutherkirche, Wiesbaden The Lutherkirche (Luther Church) is one of four main Protestant churches in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse, Germany. It was built between 1908 and 1910 in Jugendstil (''Art Nouveau'' style in Germany) and in accordance with the , to a design by ...

, and Sauer organs, at the

Berlin Cathedral The Berlin Cathedral (german: link=yes, Berliner Dom), also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental German Evangelical church and dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern) on the Museum Island in centra ...

, in the church of

Dobrilugk Abbey Dobrilugk Abbey (Kloster Dobrilugk) was a Cistercian monastery in Lower Lusatia in the territory of the present town of Doberlug-Kirchhain, Brandenburg, Germany. History The abbey was legally founded on 1 May 1165 by charter of Margrave Dietric ...

, and in Leipzig's and Nikolaikirche. The recording was selected as "recording of the month" (October) by MusicWeb International.

Awards

Schmeding was awarded prizes at organ competitions including the Mendelssohn competition in Berlin, the Pachelbel competition in Nürnberg, the Ritter competition in Magdeburg, the Böhm competition in Lüneburg, competitions at the academies of Hannover and Mannheim, the

Deutscher Musikwettbewerb The Deutscher Musikwettbewerb (German music competition; ) is a national music competition in Germany for classical soloists and chamber music ensembles held annually by the Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council). It was first held in 1975 a ...

in Berlin, the European competition for young organists in Ljubljana and the

Musica Antiqua Bruges The MA Festival Brugge, short for the festival Musica Antiqua Bruges in Bruges, Belgium, is a festival of early music and historically informed performances, started in 1960. The program includes concerts, master classes, conferences, visits in t ...

. In 1999 he was a finalist of the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

in Munich. In 2009 he received a prize of the

Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik ("German Record Critics' Award") was established in Germany in 1963 by publisher Richard Kaselowsky with the aim of setting the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement and quality" in the field ...

for his recording of the organ works by

on the label Cybele. In 2010 he was named "instrumentalist of the year" by

Echo Klassik The Echo Klassik, often stylized as ECHO Klassik, was Germany's major classical music award in 22 categories. The award, presented by the , was held annually, usually in October or September, separate from its parent award, the Echo Music Prize E ...

for his recording of an organ version of Bach's

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'', BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmeding, Martin German classical organists German male organists German recorder players Academic staff of Hochschule für Musik Freiburg 1975 births Living people People from Minden Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover alumni Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni Robert Schumann Hochschule alumni 21st-century organists 21st-century German male musicians Male classical organists 21st-century flautists