Month: May 2025

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Claudia Spahn

Claudia Spahn (*1963) is a German musician’s medicine specialist and director of the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine. She is a leading researcher in the development of music physiology and musicians’ medicine, particularly in the field of stage fright and performance anxiety.

Claudia Spahn has received artistic training in recorder as a solo instrument, piano and violin since childhood. With the recorder and piano, she has won several prizes at the state competition Jugend musiziert. She has also trained in classical ballet, modern dance and tap dancing. Spahn studied medicine at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, as well as in Paris and Switzerland. From 1986 onwards, she has also studied music teaching at the Freiburg University of Music, majoring in recorder, graduating in 1991 with a diploma in music teaching. Since 1992, Claudia Spahn has made numerous appearances as a pianist in the music cabaret duo Die schönen Baritons – together with baritone Bernhard Richter. From 1994 to 2004, she performed as a pianist and recorder player in musical theaters in France.

In 1992, Spahn began her medical training in the fields of psychosomatic medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry. In 1993, she received her doctorate in medicine, and in 1999 she became a specialist in psychotherapeutic medicine. In 2004, she completed her habilitation at the Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg on the topic of prevention in higher education for musicians. In the winter semester of 2005/2006, Claudia Spahn was appointed professor of musicians’ medicine at the Freiburg University of Music. Since then, she has headed the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine (FIM) – an institution of the University of Music and the Medical Faculty of the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg – together with Bernhard Richter. In 2017, Claudia Spahn became Vice Rector for Research and International Relations at the Freiburg University of Music. In 2020, she received her doctorate in systematic musicology.

Claudia Spahn has significantly advanced the field of music physiology and musicians’ medicine, both structurally and in terms of content. She has written and edited several standard textbooks. She teaches music students the physical and psychological foundations of music-making, preventative body-oriented approaches, and how to deal with stage fright. Music physiology can be studied as a standalone minor at the Freiburg Research and Teaching Center for Music. She also teaches medical students in the preclinical and clinical study phases at the Freiburg Medical Faculty.

In the outpatient clinic of the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine at Freiburg University Hospital, Spahn treats musicians with the full range of musicians’ medical conditions, particularly pain and strain syndromes. She offers a special consultation for patients with psychological problems, particularly performance anxiety.

https://www.mh-freiburg.de/personen/details/prof-dr-med-dr-phil-claudia-spahn

https://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/musikermedizin/mitarbeiter/prof-dr-claudia-spahn.html

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Spahn

https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/interview-mit-prof-dr-med-claudia-spahn-musikermedizinerin-lampenfieber-ist-ein-positives-phaenomen-ad161952-9c89-4068-91f4-536cb689f027


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Bernhard Richter

Bernhard Richter (* 1962) is a German physician-musician and director of the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine.

Richter received his musical training as a singer with the Stuttgart Hymnus Boys’ Choir and through violin lessons with Hedwig Pahl. He studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau, Basel, and Dublin. Parallel to his studies, Richter studied singing with Beata Heuer-Christen at the Freiburg University of Music from 1986 to 1991, culminating in a concert exam. Since 1992, Bernhard Richter has performed numerous times as a singer, including with pianist Claudia Spahn in the musical cabaret duo Die schönen Baritons.

After receiving his doctorate in medicine and completing two specialist training courses as an ENT specialist and a phoniatrist, Bernhard Richter qualified as a professor in 2002. In 2005, he was appointed professor of musician’s medicine with a focus on artistic voice training at the Faculty of Medicine at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. He teaches voice physiology and hearing physiology at the University of Music and the Faculty of Medicine at the Albert Ludwig University.

Since its founding in 2005, Bernhard Richter has directed the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine together with Claudia Spahn. He is responsible for the medical care of singers and musicians. He also cares for voice patients in speaking professions, such as actors and teachers.

The qualified psychosomaticist with a full range of recorder skills and the singing speech therapist with the greasy curls love performing late at night and in small groups. Their late-night performances in front of a maximum of 150 guests feature irony, chansons, and also Lieder and Schubert evenings with classical music.

Although neither Spahn nor Richter come from families of musicians or doctors, they pursued a dual career from an early age.

Recorder, piano, and violin, and before graduating from high school, they also received a scholarship to the Würzburg Conservatory of Music with her, joined the boys’ choir (Hymnus Chorknaben Stuttgart) from eight until his high school graduation, and simultaneously took singing lessons for him as a community service paramedic.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Richter_(Mediziner)

https://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/musikermedizin/mitarbeiter/prof-dr-bernhard-richter.html

https://www.aerztezeitung.de/Panorama/Die-schoenen-Baritons-angehende-Professoren-mit-Hang-zur-leichten-Muse-379039.html

http://swisscharts.com/album/Burkhard-Richter-&-Claudia-Spahn/Ich-bin-ein-schoener-Bariton-37988

https://www.sack.de/spahn-richter-musik-mit-leib-und-seele/9783867391146

Auftritt bei Psychotherapietagen https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3167883983283721


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Uwe Ochs

1982 Passed the C-level examination in church music (choir conducting, organ, piano, vocals)

1984–2000 Organist and pianist of the Daimler-Benz Choir Stuttgart, the Esslingen Police Department Choir, and the Swabian Singers’ Selected Choir.

1976–2000 Temporary organist and choir director (St. Ulrich, Maria Königin, Kreuz- und Thomaskirche Kirchheim-Teck)

Singing, organ and piano playing, classical music, swimming, water polo, cycling, badminton, collecting model trains and old tin toys, model making (remote-controlled airplanes, trains)


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Krzysztof Komeda

Krzysztof Komeda (born Krzysztof Trzciński; April 27, 1931 in Poznań – April 23, 1969 in Warsaw) was a Polish jazz pianist and composer of jazz and film music of international renown. According to Jan Wróblewski, Komeda occupies a similar musical rank in Poland to Chopin.

In his youth, he received piano lessons in Ostrów Wielkopolski (German: Ostrowo), where he lived from 1946 to 1951. Later, he became a student at the Conservatory in Poznań (piano lessons and music theory). He then decided to study medicine. His father, Mieczysław Trzciński, was a banker and took over the position of branch director of the National Bank of Poland in Poznań in December 1952. During his studies, he lived there with his parents from 1952 to 1956[2] and had his own piano.[3] As a student, he made contact with the Krakow underground jazz scene. They met in private apartments or nightclubs, the “catacombs of jazz”.[3] His interest in popular and dance music shifted from Dixieland to bebop and finally to contemporary jazz.

Komeda-Trzciński celebrated her first national success in August 1956 at the first jazz festival in Sopot with the Komeda Sextet. News of a jazz festival had spread like wildfire throughout Poland. The completely improvised event attracted approximately 30,000 to 50,000 young Poles, who spent the night on lawns, in parks, or in beach chairs.

The festival began with a parade similar to the New Orleans orchestra parades at Mardi Gras. The Komeda Sextet, in two boxes, symbolically buried the traditional Dixieland jazz and dance music. Since all the newspapers reported on the first free jazz festival, jazz music could no longer be banned from public view as easily as before.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Komeda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Komeda


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Reinhold Merten

Reinhold Merten dirigiert 1926 bei einer Radio-Liveübetragung Bild © hr-Archiv

Reinhold Adolf Merten (June 6, 1894 in Wiesbaden; August 19, 1943 in Munich[1][2]) was a German conductor and physician.

Coming from a family of musicians, Merten initially attended the conservatory in Wiesbaden, but then studied medicine at the Philipps University of Marburg and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, and served as a medical officer in World War I. After the war, he received his doctorate from the University of Frankfurt with a dissertation on acid-fast, tubercle-like bacilli in wind instruments (1933).

Merten did not work as a doctor, however, but became a solo répétiteur at the Frankfurt Opera in 1920. Together with Paul Hindemith, he founded the Frankfurter Gemeinschaft für Musik in 1922. After the Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst AG (Radio Frankfurt) began operations in Frankfurt am Main in April 1924, several musicians gathered under Merten’s direction in the station’s studio in the old postal savings bank on Stephanstrasse and played ensemble music. From 1926, he worked in Frankfurt as an organist and pianist. In 1927, he joined the SPD, a party he remained a member of until 1931. On October 1, 1929, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded, with Hans Rosbaud as first and Reinhold Merten as second conductor.

In addition to his musical activities, he was a “music official” at the radio station. On April 1, 1933, he joined the Nazi Party (membership number 1,795,051). In 1934, he was tasked with establishing a sound engineering school in Berlin. In 1938, he became head of the acoustic-musical border areas department of the Central Technical Directorate within the Reich Broadcasting Company in Dresden. In 1939, he moved to the Great Orchestra of the Reichssender Leipzig as chief conductor. He remained there until the station was shut down in 1940 due to the war. He also taught applied musicology at the University of Freiburg.

In 1941, he went to the Reichssender Munich as first Kapellmeister. After a serious illness, he died in Munich in 1943.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Merten

https://www.hr-sinfonieorchester.de/orchester/historie/90-jahre-special/die-anfaenge-19261929-reinhold-merten,chefdirigent-anfaenge-102.html


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Elisa Kafritsas

My name is Elisa, named after Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” a piece my mother loved. I started piano lessons at the age of 6, supported by my Korean mother and Sicilian father, and music has always been a big part of my life. After studying dentistry 🦷 and working as a dentist, I returned to the piano in 2020 after a 21-year hiatus.🎹🎵

Elisa Kafritsas played her debut piano concerto at the age of 7, won prizes at the “Jugend musiziert” competition, and performed with orchestras such as the Junge Süddeutsche Philharmonie Esslingen. While pursuing a career as a dentist, the pianist with Korean and Sicilian roots took a 21-year break, but then reactivated her dormant talent and received personal instruction from Professor Friedemann Rieger, Dean of Piano at the Stuttgart University of Music. This was followed by her viral Instagram channel “Pianotaste,” on which she participates in international piano competitions and presents her own neoclassical compositions. The premiere of her first composition, “Starlight,” took place in 2023 as a benefit for the Stelp e.V. Gala.

Sprecherin | Speaker

In 2023, I began composing to process the emotions I felt during a family member’s illness. 💉Music has always been my way of expressing my soul. As a child, I recorded my favorite songs on cassettes, played them by ear, and modified them by adding new piano runs.

You can listen to my music under Elisa Kafritsas on all music platforms, and find sheet music for my compositions on my website.

Chopin

As a piano influencer, she has not only infected people around the world, but also her family: her little daughter now practices voluntarily, and her husband is also hitting the keys more often again. “We’re really totally into the piano, and it’s doing us all a lot of good.

https://www.pianotaste.de

https://www.instagram.com/pianotaste/?hl=de

https://www.klassikradio.de/aktuelles/zahnaerztin-wird-piano-influencerin-instagramerfolge-mit-mehr-als-40-000-followern


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Jürgen Jage

Category : PianoDocs

Jürgen Jage comes from a musical family in Berlin; his father was a pianist. Most recently, he worked as a professor of anesthesiology at the University Medical Center Mainz. Since his retirement, he has devoted himself intensively to piano music. He continues his studies at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz and enjoys giving concerts, often in social institutions such as retirement homes.

Jürgen Jage plays works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Johannes Brahms, whose compositions reveal that both explored fundamental questions of human life and faith. The music heard in the concert invites reflection.

Since retiring from his career as a physician and professor at the University Medical Center Mainz, Jürgen Jage has devoted himself entirely to music. In his performances, he knows how to captivate his audience with his distinctive musical selection and moving interpretations.

https://www.youtube.com/@juergenjage2519/featured

https://schreibwolff.de/musik/konzert-juergen-jage-mainz-2023

https://www.kreuznacherdiakonie.de/aktuelles/meldung/bad-kreuznach-hospiztag-2019-musikalischer-ritt-durch-die-jahrhunderte-426


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Peter Menger

We are Deborah and Peter Menger, and we met in a choir in 1995. It’s only fitting that we’ve been making music together for many years. We perform in choirs, bands, other vocal ensembles, and as a duo in Germany and internationally. For the past 12 years, we’ve enjoyed making music together, especially with our four children.

Since 2016, we have been leading the Hüttenberg Children’s Choir together with a great team and a fantastic manager. Around 120 children meet there weekly to sing our children’s songs together and prepare for upcoming musicals and concerts. (Choir rehearsals are on Mondays at 5:30 p.m. at the Evangelical Free Congregation in Hüttenberg-Hochelheim. During the coronavirus pandemic, we meet at a safe distance on the sports field behind the parish hall. Due to limited space, we ask that you register for events on the EFG website.)

In addition, we are involved in church services and events in the surrounding communities and in the work of the association sdg (soli deo gloria) e.V.

https://www.youtube.com/@mengermusic/videos

https://www.orthopaediezentrum-giessen.de/oz/team/dr-med-peter-menger


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Arthur Wolff

Personendaten

name:Wolff, Arthur
born:28. Febr. 1885 Guttentag (Oberschlesien)/Dobrodzień, Deutschland/heute: Polen
died:23. Dez. 1945 Shanghai, China
mother:Eugenie Wolff, geb. Straßmann (gest. vor 1939)
father:Berthold Wolff (gest. vor 1939), Dr., Arzt
matrimony∞ 23. Dez. 1916 Berlin Elisabeth Wolff, geb. Heine (geb. 13. Okt. 1889), Exil 1939 in Shanghai
mother language:German
nationality:deutsch, 1941? staatenlos
grave:Shanghai

Berufe/Tätigkeiten

overview:doctor, conductor, pianist, organist, accompanist, composer, arranger
education:Berlin: Köllnisches Gymnasium (Abitur), medical studies, piano lessons with a student of Theodor Kullak, Stern Conservatory (1908-1910? in the Kapellmeister class of Arno Kleffel), Stern Conservatory (1905-1907 participation in the special music theory courses of Wilhelm Klatte and 1908/1909 to 1909/1910 studies in the Kapellmeister class of Arno Kleffel)
jobs:Opera Houses/Theatres Weimar: Grand Ducal Court Theatre (1911/1912 Solo Repetiteur-Volunteer) Erfurt: City Theatre (1912-1914 Kapellmeister, Repetiteur), Shanghai: Russian Opera, Russian Ballet (1941-1945 Conductor) Instrumental Ensembles Shanghai: Dr. Arthur Wolff Chapel Choirs Shanghai: Chinese Choir (Choirmaster) Churches Shanghai: China Hungchao College Church (Organist), Union Church (Organist) Organizations/Associations Berlin: Jewish Cultural Association
memberships:Reichsmusikkammer (1937 Ausschluss), Shanghai Musicians Association
titles:Akademische Titel Dr. med. (1909)

https://www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00002505


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Horst Hildebrandt

Horst Hildebrandt, born in Marburg (Germany), completed violin studies in Freiburg (Germany) and London, and studied medicine in Freiburg. He has furthered his training in movement therapy, dispokinesis, mental training, and pain therapy. He is a member of the German National Youth Orchestra and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. He has worked as a violinist in opera and radio orchestras. He is the first violinist of the Hilaros Quartet, the Ensemble Aisthesis, and various orchestras. From 1988, he was a violinist and violist with the Ensemble Aventure Freiburg for over 30 years. He has taught for many years at music schools, as well as at music academies and professional orchestras. He has been the head of the Music Physiology/Music and Preventive Medicine department at the Zurich University of the Arts (since 1997) and the Basel University of Music (since 1999). His areas of expertise include teaching and research in psychophysiology, prevention, and health promotion. He is the director of the MAS continuing education program in Music Physiology at the Zurich University of the Arts. Founder and management team member of the Zurich Center for Musicians (ZZM) and the Swiss University Center for Music Physiology (SHZM).

https://www.zhdk.ch/person/prof-dr-horst-hildebrandt-150695