Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski

Who was Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski?

Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski was a German composer.

Schmidt-Kowalski was born at Oldenburg in 1949. He studied composition at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Berlin under Frank Michael Beyer and at the Musikhochschule Hannover under Alfred Koerppen. In the course of his studies, Schmidt-Kowalski turned from the musical avant-garde and chose to write in a more traditional vein. Since the late 1970s he has worked as a freelance composer, mainly writing commissioned works for soloists and events. His compositions have been performed in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Sydney, Melbourne, Mexico City, and Yokohama, and have been recorded on the Naxos label. Schmidt-Kowalski has emerged as a conductor of his own works.