The German conductor, musicologist and music pedagogue, Manfred Cordes, received an education in music education, church music, singing and classical philology.
Following his studies, Manfed Cordes was appointed visiting Professor of music theory in Groningen, the Netherlands. Since 1983, in Bremen, Cordes took over the Vokalenensemble des Forum Alte Musik Bremen, on whose foundation he was involved in 1986 and began from there an extensive concert career . His doctorate, he laid in 1991 with a thesis on “Die Tonarten- und Affektenlehre der Renaissance“ (The keys and doctrine of affections of the Renaissance) from and specialized further in the music of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Then, in 1993, he created the Ensemble Weser- Renaissance Bremen, of which he is the director. With this ensemble, he performs a variety of concert programmess, has appeared in Germany and abroad, at international festivals, and has produced an impressive number of CD’s that have been enthusiastically received by the press.
In 1994, Manfred Cordes was appointed Professor of theory of early music and counterpoint at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen. He served as Dean of the Department of Music from 1997 to 2006, and Rector of the institute from 2007 to 2012. Cordes is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Internationalen Heinrich Schütz-Gesellschaft and vice-chairman of the Konferenz der deutschen Musikhochschulen. Among his pupils and/or singers who have attended his master-classes: Marcel Jorquera Vinyals (Counter-tenor). |