HERMANN BAUMANN
Born in
Hamburg, Germany, in 1934, HERMANN BAUMANN began playing the horn
at the relatively late age of 17 after beginning his musical career as a singer
and jazz drummer. After a short period of study with the eminent teacher
and soloist, Fritz Huth, he played first horn in various orchestras for 12
years. The starting point of his career as a soloist came when he when he
won first prize in the prestigious ARD Radio/Television Competition in Munich in
1964. Solo engagements, recitals, world touring and recordings all
followed and "Hermann Baumann" became household words for horn players
throughout the world. He also taught many successful students at the
Folkwang School in Essen for some 30 years.
Professor Baumann has mastered the techniques of all the various kinds of horns, from the early Baroque corno da caccia to the modern instrument. It might be said that Hermann is the most versatile horn player around! He has done pioneering work not only in Baroque music (his early recordings of the Bach cantatas with their extreme high and difficult passages) but also in the renaissance of performance on the natural horn of the concertos of the classical period. In 1999, the Historic Brass Society honored him with the Christopher Monk Award. This prize was granted in Paris for Prof. Baumann's outstanding lifelong contribution to music on old instruments. Equally at ease with the modern instrument, he has explored the possibilities of new techniques in present day compositions.
It is not so much his stupendous technique that makes Hermann Baumann's art so fascinating but rather his dynamic adaptability. He plays his horn the way a great singer sings, displaying a multiplicity of nuances of tone and mood. Renowned for the wealth of character in his playing, he brings forth rousing blasts in attack, heroically impassioned expressivity, dramatic singing, naive idyllicism, melancholy cloudiness, solemn gravity but Eulenspiegel impishness and irony, too. This musical mastery and enthusiasm also carries over into his teaching style. Despite suffering a stroke in 1993, he is still touring and performing tirelessly and teaching in master classes throughout the world.
We have been honored with Hermann's presence at KBHC since 2002 and we are all happily anticipating his return for the entire three weeks of KBHC 2008!