Michael Kapsner

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Michael Kapsner, born 29 June 1961 in Passau, is a German composer, organist, conductor, improviser and music educator. He teaches at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. He had his first organ lessons with Toni Glas and finished high school at Leopoldinum in Passau. He studied in Vienna and Freiburg with teachers including Michael Radulescu, Ludwig Doerr, Hans Petermandl, Friedrich Neumann, Peter Planyavsky, Karl Österreicher and Hans-Michael Beuerle.

From 1988 to 1990 he worked as a church musician in Freiburg. In 1991 he founded an orchestra and worked as a freelance organist and conductor until 2000; he led the Freiburg Oratorio Choir from 1993 to 1999. He taught organ and improvisation at the Trossingen College of Music from 1994 to 2001. He was a professor of organ and improvisation at the University of Graz from 2000 to 2004, and since 2004 he has held the same role at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. Kapsner has won international organ prizes, including the Bach Prize Bruges in 1985, and he continues to perform as an organist and improviser and to serve as a jury member in international competitions.