ABOUT

Hannes Pohlit (born 1976 in Heidelberg):
           German composer and pianist with Polish roots. 

In our time, the public expects an artist to have a regular, targeted biography 
with early studies and successes, winning competitions, promotional awards 
and progresses from station to station. In contrast to such expectations, 
Hannes Pohlit's biography is particularly characterized by the fact that it does 
not correspond to this picture, but is shaped by many breaks and changes with 
the result of a personal and artistic decision: to be true and individual. 
A life for the art.

Hannes' music is classical contemporary music with strong romantic features. 
His tonal language is influenced by the music of Hans Werner Henze as well 
as by romantic composers like Franz Liszt and Sergej Rachmaninoff. The basis 
of his musicality has been the experience of Johann Sebastian Bach's church 
music since his childhood. His music is as complex and multi-layered as the 
human psyche, multi-faceted and with dramatic developments like life; but 
with great warmth and melodic cantability. The artistical aspect of a work 
of art is very important to him, who is himself a virtuoso pianist.
The most important stages in his early artistic career are: as a child learning 
to play piano, organ and french horn; first compositions at the age of 14, 
private lessons with Róbert Wittinger (b. 1945), who encouraged him early 
to write symphonic works. Promotional award of the German Composers' 
Association at the age of 16, at the age of 18 young student at the University 
of music in Frankfurt with Prof. Hans Zender (1936-2019). Zender promoted 
Hannes very much, but had no understanding for his romanticism. 
After graduating from high school, he began studying composition with Prof. 
Hans-Jürgen von Bose (b. 1953) in Munich, but when he realized that in fact 
he did not like contemporary music, a personal crisis led him to terminate his 
production as a composer and to decide to want to become a conductor.
In 1998 he moved to Leipzig, where he has lived since. After studying 
conducting (with the wonderful inspiring GMD Prof. Gert Bahner, 1930-2019) 
and piano in this city, which was still marked by the fall of the GDR, he worked 
as a conductor and piano coach (Erfurt Opera House), as well as a pianist and 
song accompanist. He has conducted operas in Erfurt and Nordhausen and 
concerts with symphony orchestras such as the Jena Philharmonic, 
Philharmonic Gotha-Suhl, Erzgebirge Symphony Orchestra Annaberg-Aue and 
most recently (2016) the Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt. 
Together with Leipzig-based composers, he founded a chamber orchestra for 
contemporary music in 2005 and was its artistic director until 2010. 
At the age of 30, when he received the concert diploma from the University 
of Music "Franz Liszt" Weimar as a conductor at the end of his master class 
studies, he realized that he did not live the life that corresponded to his nature, 
quit his job at the theatre Erfurt and began studying composition (with Prof. 
Reinhard Pfundt) and music theory in Leipzig. Since 2007 he has been creating 
new compositions in a completely different style than when he was young.
From 2006 to 2017, Hannes was a freelance musician. Since ending his activities 
as a conductor, he has profilized himself in the last decade as a virtuoso pianist 
with a preference for the works of Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Sergej 
Rachmaninoff. "His nimble fingers connect solid virtuosity with the elegance 
of Chopin and brillancy of Czerny" (Press Review in "Die Rheinpfalz").
As a pianist, he is a Blüthner Artist and his compositions are published 
exclusively in the Friedrich Hofmeister Music Publisher 
(Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag Leipzig).

His first "new" orchestra works were performed by the Philharmonic Gotha-
Suhl (2009) and the Thuringia Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt 
(2011, "La Chapelle de François Liszt" for the Liszt-year). 
2014, he was the composer in residence of the famous "Cantiere 
Internazionale d'Arte" in Montepulciano (Italy), a festival which was founded 
and supported by Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012), with world premieres of his 
sinfonietta for large orchestra "Il Vento" ("The Wind") and his piano trio 
"Les Lumières de la Nuit" ("The lights of the night"). In 2015, he was the 
composer in residence of the State Theatre Rudolstadt with the comission for 
a new stage music to J. W. Goethe's "Faust I" for solo voices, choir and 
orchestra. This production was performed from 2015 till 2018 in several cities 
with 36 performances and has been well recognized in the press across Germany.
Notable publications in the recent years include the clarinet quintet "Nel Fiume 
eterno" for the chamber ensemble of the Dortmund Philharmonic, the violin 
concerto "Humanité" for the 500th anniversary of Reformation (2017, Stefan 
Arzberger - violin) and a very special Crossover-project, the twelve virtuoso 
"Paraphrases de Tango" for piano after the model of Franz Liszts' paraphrases. 

From 2010 to 2016, Hannes Pohlit was a lecturer in music theory at the Leipzig 
University of Music and Drama. Since 2017 he has been a senior lecturer for 
score playing, score studies and concert accompaniment at the Institute for 
Conducting of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT in Weimar.