Franzpeter Messmer

Great versatility characterizes the composer Horst Lohse. This applies to both his life path and his work. As an educator, he instilled the joy of making music in many children and recognized early on how important music education in schools is, a subject that remains neglected to this day. As a co-founder and long-time director of the Bamberg Days for New Music, he made a significant contribution to opening the audience's ears to new music. As a composer, he creates music that evokes a multitude of images, stories, thoughts, and emotions in the listener. His overflowing creativity forms the basis for an astonishing body of work that succeeds in bringing new music out of its hermetic isolation and shaping it into soundscapes that connect visual art from Hieronymus Bosch to the graphics of his father-in-law C. W. Rauh, and literature from E. T. A. Hoffmann to Arno Schmidt, engaging the listener directly and emotionally. Horst Lohse's works are performed internationally and have won numerous awards.

This monograph is a contribution to making Horst Lohse's compositions accessible to performers and music enthusiasts.