Prof. i.R. Franz Lang

Vita

Franz Lang was born in Munderkingen in 1956. He received his education at the conservatories of music in Trossingen and Munich under Prof. Hermann Gschwendtner. While still a student, he was offered a position as timpanist and percussionist in the orchestra of the Mannheim National Theatre, and in the same year in the same capacity with the SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Feiburg, which enjoys international renown, especially in the field of New Music, and with which he has recorded a broad spectrum of the orchestral repertoire on approximately 250 CDs. 

As a guest he has played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the "World Orchestra for Peace" and many others. He was a founding member of the "Deutsches Schlagzeugensemble", with whom he initiated world premieres of works by Stockhausen, Hespos, Hamel, Krebs, Rihm and others. For many years he played as a permanent member of the "ensemble 13" and currently in various chamber music formations, which he also conducts. 

His teaching activities began in 1980-86 at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken, then for one year in Freiburg, and since 1987 has been head of the percussion class at the Trossingen Musikhochschule, where he has been a professor since 2000. The Trossingen Percussion Class has gained an international reputation as a training centre for orchestral musicians, as its graduates have found employment with many of Germany's major orchestras, including three positions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg, the opera houses in Frankfurt, Cologne, Mannheim, Stuttgart and many more.

Several prizes and successes of his students in chamber music and solo competitions show the other focus of his teaching activities.