Wolfgang Rüdiger · A Desire for Something New?

A desire for something new? Ways of communicating new music

BIOGRAPHY

Wolfgang Rüdiger, born in Mönchengladbach in 1957, first studied school music (majoring in piano and bassoon, analysis and composition with Nicolaus A. Huber), philosophy and pedagogy in Essen. In 1982 he completed postgraduate studies in bassoon with Karl-Otto Hartmann (artistic university degree in 1986) and doctoral studies in musicology with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (doctorate with a thesis on E. T. A. Hoffmann) in Freiburg. In 1986 he co-founded the Ensemble Aventure, of which he is still active as bassoonist and artistic director. As an ensemble musician and bassoon soloist, he has performed in many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. He has premiered several hundred works, contributed to more than 25 CDs and received numerous awards and prizes. Numerous composers have written bassoon solo and ensemble works for him and dedicated them to him (Nicolaus A. Huber, Gerhard Stäbler, Max E. Keller, Manfred Trojahn, Thomas Lauck, Violeta Dinescu, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Carola Bauckholt, Sidney Corbett, Iris ter Schiphorst, Helmut Oehring, Natalia Solomonoff, José Manuel Serrano, Michael Quell and others).
After teaching at the Musikschule Mönchengladbach 1977-1982 and in addition to his subsequent teaching activities at the Musikschule Freiburg, Wolfgang Rüdiger was lecturer for bassoon and instrumental pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg from 1986 to 1998, and from 1998 to 2001 professor in the same function at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Since 2001 he has held a professorship for music pedagogy/artistic pedagogical training at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf.
From 2003 to 2007 he was spokesperson of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Leitenden musikpädagogischer Studiengänge in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ALMS), and from 2013 to 2016 he was a board member of the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt (INMM). Since 2021, he is a member of the management team and lecturer of the in-service course Leadership and Management of a Music School in the Federal Academy for Musical Youth Education Trossingen.
Wolfgang Rüdiger is a permanent contributor to the journal Üben & Musizieren, active in the field of continuing education (on topics such as music and breath/body, learning to practice, ensemble & improvisation, composition, interpretation, new music, and music education), and author of numerous musicological and music pedagogical essays and books (see list of publications).