Jürgen Essl

1961

Personal details

Jürgen Essl received his musical training in Stuttgart, Bordeaux and Vienna, where his teachers included Ludger Lohmann and Michael Radulescu. After completing his studies he was a church musician in Sigmaringen before being appointed professor of organ at the Lübeck Musikhochschule and in 2003 at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. He received grants from the German academic exchange program and the arts foundation of Baden-Württemberg. He has achieved international recognition as a performer, improviser and composer, and has made guest appearances as a soloist at the Linz Bruckner Festival, the Gmunden Festival and the Kassel New Music Festival, as also in Leyden, Milan, Cracow and Vienna. His repertoire encompasses the entire spectrum of organ literature. The interpretation of early music and the preparation and first performance of the latest works form the cornerstones of his activities. Jürgen Essl is in demand as a lecturer at international organ seminars. Among his partners in improvisation projects are such musicians as Joachim Kühn and the actor Charles Brauer, and he also performed with the late Hanns Dieter Hüsch. His compositional oeuvre includes organ works that have gained world-wide recognition and pieces for choir, ensembles and orchestra. In 2003 he was awarded the composition prize for church music in Baden-Württemberg, and in 2007 he received the cultural award of the city of Passau. His musical career is documented on numerous CDs, including the first recording of the organ works of Jean Françaix, a widely noted improvisation recorded in Brussels Cathedral, and the "Ochsenhauser Orgelbuch."