Wolfgang Steffen

Wolfgang Steffen is one of the few freelance composers of our time. He was born in 1923 in Neuhaldensleben and lives in Berlin since his early youth. After the war he studied for short time in Hamburg. He finished his composition studies in Berlin with Heinz Tiessen. His work list, with the exception of the opera, contains all the musical genres. He has been awarded with the composition prize of Australia and the Johann-Wenzel-Stamitz-Prize of the Künstlergilde Esslingen. In addition to his composition work and a short-term guest professor at the Berlin University of the Arts in the seventies, he sat down in his voluntary commitment to the committees of GEMA, the DAAD and others for numerous, young colleagues. In the last few years, plucked instruments played an increasingly important role in the oeuvre of Wolfgang Steffen. He created both, chamber music and works for plucked orchestras. Wolfgang Steffen died in 1993 in Berlin.