25 Facts About Gabriel Dessauer

Gabriel Dessauer was born on 4 December 1955 and is a German cantor, concert organist, and academic teacher.

In 1985 Dessauer founded a project choir, later named Reger-Chor, dedicated to rarely performed sacred music for choir and organ.

Gabriel Dessauer has lectured at international conferences, especially about the music of Max Reger, who was a member of the St Bonifatius parish.

Gabriel Dessauer was an organ teacher on the faculty of the Hochschule fur Musik Mainz from 1995 to 2013.

Gabriel Dessauer received his Abitur at the Kolleg St Blasien in 1974.

Gabriel Dessauer continued his studies with Franz Lehrndorfer and received the Meisterklassendiplom in 1982.

Gabriel Dessauer was a member of Karl Richter's Munchener Bach-Chor.

Gabriel Dessauer has been the cantor at St Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, the central Catholic church in the capital of Hesse, since 1981.

Gabriel Dessauer is the conductor of the 107-member Chor von St Bonifatius, founded in 1862, of the children's choir Kinderchor von St Bonifatius, and of the Schola for Gregorian chant.

In 2006, Gabriel Dessauer conducted Karl Jenkins's Requiem, composed in 2004.

Gabriel Dessauer first continued the tradition of the Stunde der Kirchenmusik monthly concert, and then began a series Boni-Musikwochen instead, grouping choral and organ concerts around a theme within the span of one to two weeks.

Gabriel Dessauer appeared with the Chor von St Bonifatius in Azkoitia and San Sebastian on a Cavaille-Coll-organ at both churches, at the Limburg Cathedral, in St Jakobus, Gorlitz, and in Memphis, Tennessee.

Gabriel Dessauer has appeared in recitals in Europe and the US, at the Washington National Cathedral and St Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

In 2005, Gabriel Dessauer played at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego.

Since 1992, Gabriel Dessauer has conducted events for the Rheingau Musik Festival called the Orgeltour, visiting historic organs in the region.

Until 2010, Gabriel Dessauer played a regular concert on New Year's Eve on the Walcker organ at the Marktkirche, Wiesbaden, together with church organist Hans Uwe Hielscher.

In 2014, Gabriel Dessauer toured in the US, playing concerts at the Washington National Cathedral, at St Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, California, and at the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City.

In 2020, Gabriel Dessauer organised the Winterspiele concert series to honour the 150th anniversary of Louis Vierne, playing his Third Organ Symphony, among others, in the summer instead of winter because the planned concert was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gabriel Dessauer retired at the end of 2021, succeeded by Johannes Schroder.

From 1995 to 2013, Gabriel Dessauer was an organ teacher at the Hochschule fur Musik Mainz, part of the Gutenberg University in Mainz.

In 1985, Gabriel Dessauer invited singers to form a choir to perform a single work, the Hebbel-Requiem of Max Reger in the organ version by the Munich organist and composer Max Beckschafer.

In 1999 Gabriel Dessauer collaborated with Ignace Michiels, in a joint project to bring a century of violence to a close.

In 1995 Gabriel Dessauer prepared the choir for a memorial concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In November 2009 Gabriel Dessauer performed Durufle's Requiem again, this time with a choir of volunteers who wanted to commemorate the Holocaust in a Gedenkkonzert gegen Antisemitismus, or a concert against Antisemitism.

In November 2015 Gabriel Dessauer was the organist for a sing-along organised by the Diocese of Limburg in St Bonifatius.