Stefan Rapp

After studying percussion with Professor Bernhard Wulff at the Freiburg Music Academy, Stefan Rapp spent a short time working at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen before being appointed the timpanist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He is a founding member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He has played under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Herbert Blomstedt, Ricardo Chailly, Matthias Pintscher and Paavo Järvi. In addition to his orchestra and ensemble work, which have included the NDR, Hessian Radio, the Heimbach Chamber Music Festival (with Lars Vogt), Ensemble Modern and ANARES – The German Percussion Collective, he founded the chamber music series »Back to the roots« and the music festival »Mosaik« in Bremen. These projects involve various musicians and focus on exploring New Music and improvisation, which has greatly enriched Stefan Rapp’s musical work. In 2018 he became the first percussion professor appointed in the history of the Leipzig Academy of Music and Theatre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. His areas of work range from in-depth orchestral training via challenging New Music to the examination of complex musical styles and other cultures. Stefan Rapp has recorded numerous CDs featuring works by Antheil, Beethoven, Brahms, Enke, Pintscher, Schumann and Stravinsky, among others.