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The German tenor and choral conductor, Olaf Katzer, studied music and psychology in Munich, Weimar and Dresden.
Already during his studies Olaf Katzer founded the ensemble AuditivVokal Dresden in 2007, and has been its Artistic Director since then. In close co-operation with renowned composers, stage directors, visual artists and scientists, he and his ensemble put ground-breaking ideas of a modern, expressive vocal art into practice by creating new sound visions, and made known across the borders of Germany. Being a skilled conductor, Katzer, who is considered an expert in the interpretation of contemporary vocal music, chooses to open new perspectives of vocal art, through works like Dieter Schnebel’s Visible Music or Manos Tsangaris’ Sessellift. So far Olaf Katzer has directed over 60 original and premiere performances. Guest appearances at numerous festivals and radio recordings document his commitment to the "contemporarily pleasing" vocal music.
Olaf Katzer has also earned an excellent reputation in the field of Early Music and has guest directed vocal ensembles such as the RIAS-Kammerchor, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig and Dresdner Kammerchor (numerous concerts since 2009), to which he was the first conductor from 2010 to 2015 and has since been invited as guest conductor. He successfully co-operated as chorus master with famous directors such as Hans-Christoph Rademann, Peter Schreier, Riccardo Chailly and Simon Halsey. He gained numerous insights in various performance practices in collaboration with renowned conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Václav Luks, Reinhard Goebel and Christian Thielemann. He also works with instrumental ensmbles, such as the Dresdner Barockorchester, Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen and Ensemble Moto Perpetuo New York.
Mediating music is a matter of the heart to Olaf Katzer. From 2008 to 2012, he taught choral conducting at Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium in Frankfurt/Main. Since 2011 he has been teaching choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden; since the academic year 2015-2016 as a substitute professor for choral conducting. He also directs the university choir, with which he recently performed Felix Mendelssohn 's Elijah.
Olaf Katzer directed workshops at New York's Manhattan School of Music, the Universidad Catolica Santiago in Chile and the Conservatório das Música in Belo Horizonte. In addition, in recent years he has been director of the Meißner Chorfestivals and director of Jungen Ensembles Dresden, and is responsible for the artistic concept of the biannual European Choir Workshop for New Music Dresden. He combines both activities with a search for an "aura of the special," which seeks to bring people closer to contemporary ensemble culture and the desire to sing. He currently lives in Dresden, Germany. |
