Biography of Markus Stockhausen

Markus Stockhausen (b. 1957) is one of the few trumpet soloists who can move effortlessly between contemporary music, classical music and modern jazz. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who composed many beautiful works for him. Already in 1976 he performed Karlheinz Stockhausen’s work Sirius at the Einstein Spacearium in Washington D.C. for the Bicentennial Celebrations. In 1981 and 1984 he appeared as soloist in his father’s opera cycle Licht at La Scala di Milano, 1985 at the Royal Covent Garden Opera in London, 1991 at the Opera in Leipzig. Numerous concerts have taken him to festivals around the world.

Foto: Rolf Zavelberg

Markus’s approach to the creation of “intuitive music” is influenced by post-bop, free jazz, world music, electronica, classical and ambient music, and takes advantage of his outstanding command of the instrument. An early recording with pianist Rainer Brüninghaus (Continuum, ECM) finds him weaving intricate and electrifying lines on trumpet, flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet. His subsequent work with bassist Gary Peacock, guitarist Ralph Towner, his frequent collaborations with bassist Arild Andersen and percussionist Patrice Héral (Kàrta, Joyosa, Symphonic Colours, Electric Treasures), his numerous duo collaborations, notably with Tara Bouman on clarinets: Moving Sounds, with jazz pianist Florian Weber: Inside Out, with the Hungarian guitar virtuoso Ferenc Snétberger, with his brother Simon Stockhausen, his recent Markus Stockhausen Group with pianist Jeroen van Vliet, cellist Jörg Brinkmann and drummer Christian Thomé, as well as his solo concerts have all yielded fresh perspectives.

As a composer he has received commissions from, among others, the RIAS Chamber Choir, The London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra d‘Archi Italiana, the Winterthur Chamber Orchestra, the Cheltenham Music Festival and The 12 Cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2007 he wrote “Tanzendes Licht“ for trumpet, big band and string orchestra for the Swiss Jazz Orchestra and the Camerata Bern, as well as “Symbiosis“, a double concerto for clarinet and trumpet with string orchestra, comissioned by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. In 2009 he composed “Oliver’s Adventures“ for children’s orchestra and choir, in 2011 “Yin“ and “Yang“ for the Metropole Orchestra, premiered at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam for the Holland Festival. Also in 2011 he wrote “GeZEITen“ for about 600 musicians, comissioned by the Niedersächsische Musiktage in Cuxhaven. In 2012: “Ein Glasperlenspiel“ for solo trumpet and accordeon orchestra, 2013: “Das Erwachende Herz“ for solo trumpet, clarinet, voice and symphony orchestra, comissioned and performed by the Hamburger Symphoniker. In 2020 he wrote „Elixier“ for the WDR Funkhausorchester, Cologne.

More than 90 CDs document his work. He regularly gives workshops on Intuitive Music and More and seminars in Singing and Silence. He received several awards: Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 1981; European Music Price, Vienna 1995; WDR Jazz price 2005 best improviser; „Silberne Stimmgabel“ of the Region NRW in 2017; JTI Jazz Award 2017 in Trier; 2018 Echo Jazz Prize, 2021 the German Jazz prize as best national brass player in Germany.

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Shorter bio:

Markus Stockhausen, (b. 1957) is one of the few trumpet soloists who can move effortlessly between contemporary, classical music and modern jazz. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who has composed many beautiful works for him. Markus’s approach to the creation of “Intuitive Music” is influenced by post-bop, free jazz, world music, electronica and ambient music, and takes advantage of his outstanding command of the instrument. He regularly tours internationally with his own projects, the Markus Stockhausen Group, Moving Sounds with Tara Bouman, Inside Out with jazz pianist Florian Weber, his septet Wild Life and more.
As a composer he has received commissions from, among others, the RIAS Chamber Choir, The London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra d‘Archi Italiana, the Winterthur Chamber Orchestra, the Cheltenham Music Festival, The 12 Cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic and the WDR Funkhausorchester. More than 90 CDs document his work. He recorded for ECM, EMI classics, Enja, ACT, Aktivraum Records and recently for SONY/OKeh. Regularly he gives workshops on Intuitive Music and More and seminars in Singing and Silence. In 2005 he won the WDR Jazz price as best improviser, in 2018 he has been awarded the German Echo Jazz prize and in 2021 the German Jazz prize.