Thursday 13 August 1997 at 12.30 pm
Thursday 21 August 2003 at 8.00 pm

Ansgar Wallenhorst

Ansgar Wallenhorst pursued his music degree at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, where he studied organ and improvisation with Professor Günther Kaunzinger, piano with Professor Norman Shetler and harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Professor Zsolt Gárdonyi. He subsequently attended Prof. Kaunzinger's organ masterclass and took his master class diploma at the age of 25. He broadened his improvisation skills with Thierry Escaich and in the class of Olivier Latry in Paris, while Maître Jean Guillou provided him with further guidance on interpretation and improvisation. He took up the study of theology and philosophy while in Münster and Paris, focusing especially on the discourse between these disciplines and the arts.

Since 1998, Wallenhorst has been director of music at St. Peter und Paul in Ratingen while teaching organ improvisation and artistic organ playing at the Musikhochschule in Dortmund from 1998 to 2002. He is founder and artistic director of the Offene Orgelklasse für Interpretation, Improvisation und Analyse, an open organ class for interpretation, improvisation and analysis at the Klais organ in the Ruhr University's Auditorium Maximum in Bochum. The class is interdisciplinary, offering students and other interested persons a monthly forum including all aspects of the aesthetics of organ music.

His reputation as a distinguished improviser was confirmed in 1999 by his winning second place in the 3ème Concours d'orgue de la Ville de Paris, and the famous Grand Prix at the 43rd international improvisation concours in Haarlem (the Netherlands) in 2000.