|
The German conductor, Siegbert Rampe, studied harpsichord, piano, fortepiano, organ, and composition in Stuttgart, Amsterdam, and Salzburg with Kenneth Gilbert, Ton Koopman, Ludger Lohmann, Helmut Lachenmannn and others.
Siegbert Rampe’s concert debut took place at the Frescobaldi Festival in Ferrara in 1983. Since then, he has appeared on the harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ in solo and chamber music recitals and, since 1995, as a conductor. His concert tours have taken him to practically every country in Europe as well as Russia, Japan, and the USA. He has appeared at the music festivals in Baden-Baden, Bologna, Bonn, Bruges, Brno, Herne, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rome, Schleswig-Holstein, Stuttgart, Salzburg, Tokyo, Utrecht, Versailles, Vienna, and many more.
Siegbert Rampe's repertoire on period keyboard instruments ranges from the Middle Ages to C. Franck and J. Brahms. His list of recordings includes more than 45 CDs, all of which were made exclusively for EMI and Virgin since 1987 and also for Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm (MDG) since 2000. Many of them have received international awards. Among them are a large number of clavier and organ works and keyboard concertos by J.S. Bach, L.v. Beethoven, and W.A. Mozart as well as music from the 17th century. These pieces, usually performed on original instruments dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, form the core of Rampe's repertoire.
Peter Cossé referred to Siegbert Rampe's recording début, with W.A. Mozart's clavier sonatas, as "sensational" and "the utmost in technique and artistry." To Heinz-Josef Herbort, Rampe is "a performer who forces one to listen intently" (Die Zeit, 1990). His interpretations are rooted in a thorough study of compositional technique, performance practice, and the composers' surroundings. His constant quest for an understanding of both composer and work has led to new insights and opened up new avenues of expression. The certificate of the German Record Critics Award maintains that "Siegbert Rampe has emerged as a musician of remarkably incisive and independently-minded powers of expression. The result is music-making of a linearity, presence, and intensity that literally beggars comparison" (Ingo Harden, 1996).
Siegbert Rampe has also conveyed his discoveries in several books (e.g. on J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart), a great many journal articles, and a new generation of complete editions of early music (J.S. Bach, Ebner, Froberger, Krieger, Vincent Lübeck, Muffat, Rameau, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, and Matthias Weckmann). These editions meet the demands of performers and scholars alike and have been accorded worldwide recognition. Most of his writings and editions have been published by the House of Bärenreiter.
In 1988, Siegbert Rampe founded Nova Stravaganza, an ensemble specializing in performances on period instruments. Since then, he has led this group as an orchestra and expanded it to include a clavier trio. From 1998 to 2002 he was also artistic director of the Bach Festival in Köthen Castle.
Since 1996, Siegbert Rampe has been a professor of historical keyboard instruments and performance practice in the USA and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Since 2000 he has held a professorship at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Today he lives in Köln. |
