Prof. Klaus Fessmann  (born 03/07/1951 in Nürtingen) is a pianist, composer, sound artist, author and pedagogue. He teaches composition at the Mozarteum University Salzburg.

Klaus Fessmann studied school music (piano/composition) at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, gained his degree in school music & German studies with the state examination (University of Stuttgart), studied composition under Erhard Karkoschka (final examination 1982) and musicology under Hans-Heinrich Eggebrecht. After his studies, Fessmann became a musical theory lecturer at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. He also taught this subject at Stuttgart´s city music school and in 1997 he was appointed to the renowned music university Mozarteum Salzburg. His artistic development is characterised by a talent that resides in the border zones between music, fine arts, literature, sculpture and multimedia-based thinking. His musical socialisation is based on the piano music of W. A. Mozart, which he has been playing since he was five. In addition to classical music, Fessmann has played and composed in the fields of experimental music, Indian music, avant-garde, folk music, jazz and world music. Here, he has a particular liking for Indian culture.

The primary focus of his artistc work lies in the development of new musical notation systems. He no longer recorded his compositions using the traditional note system, but rather he worked with several layers using special paper and films so as to present foreground, middle ground and background and thus music in a complex fashion. In his future development of this technique, he added glass, mirrors and Plexiglass, developed new signs and built objects that funcion partly as cybernetic models. He has hitherto created almost 700 musical graphics, which work primarily with lyrical texts. For instance, he has produced the Ingeborg Bachmann cycle, the Gertrude Stein cycle, the Werner Dürrson cycle, the Thomas Bernhard cycle, the objects about Mozart´s Die Entführung aus dem Serails and Don Giovanni, as well as various individual objects.

18 years ago, Fessmann composed the cave language cycle by Werner Dürrson, through he came across the material of stone as a sound material. He became familiar with the sculpture works of Elmar Daucher, Arthur Schneiter and others and begun to explore the music from the stones himself, from his musical perspective. This research became the artistic focus of his work. Fessmann researched the sound types of various stones and carried out measurements using various processes so as to be able to account for the development of the stone sounds. In 1997, along with Manfred Kniel and Friedemann Dähn, he founded the Ensemble KLANGSTEIN, which, since then, has been performing concerts throughout the world. The constitution of the ensemble, with eight sound stones, a cello and an e-cello as well as a specially developed percussion instrument made of water and stone, is globally unique. Since 2010, Prof. Klaus Fessmann has also made stones produce sounds with the Ensemble Laetare. The interplay between the contralto voice of Andrea Fessmann Letzing, the Celtic harp of Georg Baum and the sound stones of Klaus Fessmann open up a world of sound that gives rise to new worlds in incomparable fashion.

The different ensembles now have various records and Fessmann has published the books KlangSteine (sound stones) (Südwest/Random House), KLANGSTEINE – Vom Stein zum Klang zum Menschen – eine Standortbestimmung (SOUND STONES – From the stone to the sound to the person – a standpoint) (in collaboration with Jörn H. Kruhl) and To touch the Sound – das Hand-Buch …. der Steinklänge (To touch the sound – the handbook of stone sounds) – both books Emanomedia/Zürich. Fessmann regularly gives presentations on topics such as politics, business and culture.
In addition to the Ensemble KLANGSTEIN, the artist plays music alone and with his son Hannes Fessmann. Fessmann’s work with stones has resulted in further projects developed by him. First and foremost is the research into the therapeutic effect, which has been applied and researched at the Aerpah Clinic in Esslingen-Kennenburg since 2008/2009. Since spring 2009, interested individuals have been trained in sound stone therapy according to Prof. Fessmann / Dr. Runge; the results so far can be requested.

The work with the sound stones resulted in the pedagogical concept of the pebble school, which Klaus Fessmann has developed in collaboration with percussionist Manfred Kniel. The pebble school is the one and only elementary music and composition school. It works with pebble stones and came into existence as an accompaniment to the violence prevention project “Faustlos”.

In 2004/05, Fessmann, in collaboration with Prof. Michael Kaufmann, founding director of the Essen Philharmonic Hall, the Herbatschule school in Essen-Katernberg and department 12, Music and Dance Pedagogy, at the Orff Institute of Mozarteum University Salzburg, developed the project “ReSonanz & AkzepTan”, which is the only successful pedagogical project with academic accompaniment for schools with a high migratory background. In the nearly four years that it run, it succeeded in raising pupil language skills acquisition by 40%. In 2009, the project extended to Germany as a whole as a further education concept.

Since 2002, Fessmann has implemented concepts allowing him to realise his ideas of real life in sound. This approach assumes that human wellbeing depends primarily on where and how people really live. This ca be researched and demonstrated in mediaeval monastery constructions and in various other fields of research. Fessmann developed methods of transforming the hermeneutics of compositions in garden architecture and architecture. This has been implemented with Italian classical music in Heidelberg-Rohrbach. At present, more than 1.500 people live there in the quarter beside the tower.

Prof. Klaus Fessmann
Composer
ECHO KLASSIK AWARD WINNER 2009
o.Univ. Prof. Mag. Mozarteum University Salzburg
o. Member of the Sudeten German Academy of the Sciences and the Arts
o. Member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences des Lettres et des Arts, Paris
www.klaus-fessmann.de
www.klangsteine.net

Prof. Klaus Fessmann receives BDG´s “Stein im Brett” award
The “Stein im Brett” award was created by the BDG (German Professional Association of Geoscientists) for personalities of public life who have promoted the geosciences and their professions to a particular degree. The award is granted exclusively to non-geologists who nevertheless have promoted the discipline. The Management Board of the BDG grants this award annually. It consists of a rare wood into which a piece of Black Forest hornblende gneiss has been embedded. Winners of the award in the last few years have included Thomas Reiter, Ranga Yogeshwar, UNESCO, Frank Schätzing, the magazine GEO, Erika Pohl-Ströher, Prof. Ernst Waldemar Bauer and the former Federal Minister of Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn.
In 2015, the prestigious award will go to music professor and composer Prof. Klaus Fessmann, who, among other things, is considered the creator of sound stone music. He will be presented with the award as part of an event of the Exhibition Center Offenburg on 29 October. Besides his teaching work, Fessmann regularly performs as a musician with sound stones , making stone blocks with cut-out lamellae produce sounds with his damp hands. He frequently plays with the Ensemble Klangstein, whose members include, in addition to Fessmann, cellist Friedemann Dähn and percussionist Manfred Kniel as well as, occasionally, guest musicians. Prof. Klaus Fessmann also makes stones produce sounds with the Ensemble Laetare. The interplay between the contralto voice of Andrea Fessmann Letzing, the Celtic harp of Georg Baum and the sound stones of Klaus Fessmann opens up a world of sound that gives rise to new musical worlds in incomparable fashion. Most of the stones played by Fessmann are made by his oldest son Hannes. He also deals with the development of new musical notation systems. He no longer records his compositions using the traditional note system; in order to present music in a complex manner, he works with special paper and multi-layered films. In October 2009, the integration project ReSonanz & AkzepTanz, which was created by Klaus Fessmann and Michael Kaufmann and was launched at the Herbartschule school in Essen in 2004, received the ECHO Klassik Special Award from the panel for the fostering of young talent in the classical music field. Additionally, Fessmann made a name for himself as an author with the book publications KlangSteine (sound stones) (Südwest/Random House), KLANGSTEINE – Vom Stein zum Klang zum Menschen – eine Standortbestimmung (SOUND STONES – From the stone to the sound to the person – a standpoint) (Klaus Fessmann & Jörn H. Kruhl) and To touch the Sound – das Hand-Buch der Steinklänge (To touch the sound – the handbook of stone sounds) (both Emanomedia/Zürich) and regularly gives presentations on political, business and cultural topics.
Klaus Fessmann (born 03/07/1951 in Nürtingen) is a pianist, composer, sound artist, author and pedagogue. He teaches composition at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. He studied school music (piano/composition) at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, gained his degree in school music & German studies with the state examination (University of Stuttgart), studied composition under Erhard Karkoschka (final examination 1982) and musicology under Hans-Heinrich Eggebrecht. After his studies, Fessmann became a musical theory lecturer at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. He also taught this subject at Stuttgart´s city music school and in 1997 he was appointed to the renowned music university Mozarteum Salzburg. Fessmann´s artistic development is characterised by a talent that resides in the border zones between music, fine arts, sculpture and multimedia-based thinking.
His musical socialisation is based on the piano music of W.A. Mozart, which he has been playing since he was five. In addition to classical music, Fessmann has played and composed in the fields of experimental music, Indian music, avant-garde, folk music, jazz and world music. Here, he has a particular liking for Indian culture.