Prof. Jochen Schorer

Jochen Schorer was born in Villingen in 1974 and grew up in Mühlheim an der Donau (near Tuttlingen). Thanks to his musical parents and his first drum teacher Michael Lang, he has been influenced by various styles since childhood. The combination of classical music, jazz and new music still plays a key role in his musical work today.

At the age of 24, he became the first percussionist with the SWR Symphony Orchestra. First in Freiburg from 1999 and then in Stuttgart from 2016. In September 2023, he ended his successful career there in order to devote himself fully to his new role at the State University of Music in Trossingen. He studied there from 1996 under Prof. Franz Lang, whose outstanding work over decades is an extraordinarily valuable basis for Jochen Schorer's new area of responsibility.

He has won various prizes during his artistic career. These include a first prize at the university competition in Weimar and the sponsorship prize of the International Lake Constance Conference. He was also a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation.

As a soloist, he has performed with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. As a chamber musician, he is a sought-after partner in various ensembles and formations, e.g. with the piano duo Grau-Schumacher and Patricia Kopatchinskaja and as a vibraphonist in various jazz formations. Since 2015, he has been a member of the artistic management team of the Valser Musiksommer, an annual chamber music festival in Graubünden (CH). He has made guest appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Concert tours have taken him to Asia and the USA.

Jochen Schorer first entered university teaching in 2014 with a three-year appointment at the Nuremberg University of Music. A short time later, he moved to the Bern University of the Arts, from where he moved to the Trossingen University of Music in October 2023 to focus on teaching there.

Photo: © Ben Kunstleben