Wolfgang Kläsener (born 1962) is a German church musician, choral conductor, and academic lecturer. He conducted the choir

Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke The Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke (Barmen-Gemarke chorale) is a mixed concert choir based in Wuppertal, Germany, focused on sacred music. It was founded by Helmut Kahlhöfer in 1946 and conducted by him for more than four decades. Their repertory includ ...

and he is artistic director of the Kettwiger Bach-Ensemble.

Career

Born in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, Kläsener studied organ with Gisbert Schneider from 1979 and Catholic church music at the

Folkwang-Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in ...

from 1981, graduating in 1987. As an organist, he was recipient of the third prize at the Internationaler Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Wettbewerb in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

in 1988, and of the Walter Gieseking Competition in Saarbrücken in 1989. He took a concert exam with Daniel Roth in 1990. Kläsener founded in 1984 the Kettwiger Bach-Ensemble, a chamber ensemble which received several prizes at international competitions. Besides

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

music from all periods, they try unconventional programming. In October 2017, they performed a program for the Year of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

which combined the last premiere of a work by

Thomas Beimel Thomas Beimel (30 May 1967 – 29 June 2016) was a German composer, violist and musicologist. Born in Essen, Beimel studied at the Folkwang Hochschule in his hometown, composition with Konrad Grahe and viola with Karin Wolff. He continued his stu ...

, ''im anfang war das wort'', with Bach's '' Lutherische Messe'' in G major and Bruckner's Mass in E minor. The composer had intended the work, based on the prologue of the

Book of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

, to be performed by the ensemble for his 50th birthday. He had collaborated in rehearsals, but suddenly died. The concert was held in his memory. From 1985, Kläsener was lecturer of organ and choral conducting at the ''Bischöfliche Kirchenmusikschule'' in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, and from 1990 lecturer of choral conducting at the ''Kirchenmusikschule'' in

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

. From 1993, he was artistic director of the

. He prepared the Kantorei for performances of Bach's ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

'' in a danced version in 2017, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the relationship between

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

and

Beer-Sheva Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

, Israel. The music was shortened and in different order, to match the retrospect narrative of the choreographer Tamir Ginz of the dance company Kamea. The production was shown in Leverkusen, in the

Opernhaus Wuppertal Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance perfo ...

, and in Beer-Sheva. Kläsener conducted the Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke to July 2017, and took up a new position as the church musician in

Solingen Solingen (; li, Solich) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located some 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and, with a 2009 population of 161,366, ...

's West from 9 September 2017. He has run from 2005 a series at the Essen Philharmonie, "Essener Chöre stellen sich vor" (Essen choirs introduce themselves).

References

External links

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Kettwiger Bach-Ensemble Prfilseite
(in German) Verband Deutscher Konzertchöre {{DEFAULTSORT:Klasener, Wolfgang German choral conductors German male conductors (music) 1962 births Musicians from Wuppertal Living people 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German male musicians