Peter Michael Hamel

Who is Peter Michael Hamel?

Peter Michael Hamel is a German composer. His works have been associated with the minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement.

Hamel studied musical composition, psychology and sociology in Munich and Berlin with teachers including Günter Bialas and Carl Dahlhaus. He then continued his education abroad, spending several extensive periods in Asia.

In 1970, he founded "Between", an international group dedicated to improvisational music with whom he made 6 records on the intuition/wergo label and in 1978 in Munich, he founded the Freies Musikzentrum, an institute for musical education and therapy. In 1978, his book Through Music to the Self was published in English translation, obtaining wide circulation in Europe and the U.S.

In 1997, he became professor for composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. His orchestra and chamber music is published by Schott, Bärenreiter and E.R.P./Celestial Harmonies. He has composed four operas; many pieces for orchestra; violin and piano concertos; spiritual compositions for soprano, choirs and orchestra; Shoah; a number of chamber-music compositions; and is in demand as a performing artist. His First Symphony was premiered by Sergiu Celibidache in 1988; his Second Symphony had its first performance in Munich on April 29, 2008 with the Munich Philharmonic. In 2007 Hamel's Of the Sound of Life for pianist Roger Woodward was published by Celestial Harmonies.