Leonhard Völlm & Johannes Wedeking
Biography Leonhard Völlm & Johannes Wedeking
Leonhard Völlm
studied protestant church music in Tübingen, graduating with the A examination in 2013. Further studies in organ playing led him to Michel Chapuis (Paris), Peter Planyawsky (Vienna) and Almut Rössler (Düsseldorf); in addition, study visits to Gotheburg and Stockholm enriched his musical education. His encounters with historical piano and organ instruments from different stylistic eras and cultural landscapes has been formative for his artistic developement – Leonhard Völlm has always found them to be ”teachers“ tht promote musical perception and sense. The artist seeshimself asacomprehensive musican: already during his studies he worked as an arranger and pianist at the Alte Theater Heilbronn. In 2014 he was appointed director of music and organist at the Protestant Martin’s Church in Stuttgart-Möhringen, where he works extensively with various children’s and adults choirs and music ensembles. Since 2016, Leonhard Völlm has also been an organ expert for the Evangelical State Church in Württemberg. In 2016 Völlm conducted the premiere of his comissioned composition ”Wandel der Zeit“ (”Change of the Times“), for soloists, choir, organ and percussion. From 2017 to 2019, he directed the Morello Consort Stuttgart, which is dedicated to of ensemble music from the 17th and 18th centuries on period instruments. Völlm is a cofounder of the ”Sprungbrettorchester“ (”Springboard Orchestra“) whose artistic direction he has held since 2021; this formation is dedicated to promoting young soloists and supporting freelance musicians during the Corona pandemic and beyond. On selected occasions, Leonhard Völlm can also be heard in Germany and Switzerland with chanson programmes by the Viennese composer, singer and poet Georg Kreisler. In Leonhard Völlm’s instrumental repertoire, his own arrangements of chamber music and symphonic works as well as compositions for organ have recently become a focus, not least inspired by the new Klais organ in the Martinskirche Stuttgart-Möhringen.
Johannes Wedeking
studied church music and singing at the universities of music in Rottenburg on the Neckar, Tübingen and Düsseldorf (Robert Schumann Hochschule). It is there that he continued his musical education in the opera class of Thomas Laske in 2013. His artistic studies were enriched by masterclasses in both opera and art song repertoire as well as masterclasses and work shadowing with reknown ensembles and singers. Johannes Wedeking also studied German language and literature and musicology at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. In 2017 he was a prizewinner at the International Singing Competition of the Schloss Rheinsberg chamber opera. Johannes Wedeking then committed himself to opera at the theatres of Hagen and Münster. He performed the role of the Grand Inquisitor in the opera Don Carlo at the Flanders Festival Ghent in 2018. During the season 2019/20 he was a guest at the Opera Houses Cologne (Brett Dean: Hamlet) and Halle (Mozart: Don Giovanni, Masetto). Focal points of his artistic work are the ensemble singing and particularly the art song. Johannes Wedeking performes as a bass in reknowned vocal ensembles such as the Vocalensemble Rastatt (Holger Speck) and the Chorus Musicus Cologne (Christoph Spering). His work as part of ”The Orpheus Consort“ is dedicated to ensemble music from the Renaissance and early Baroque and the performance of contemporary music with period instruments. Recently, Johannes Wedeking has devoted himself primarily to Lied singing. The development of hitherto unknown or rarely performed works, predominantly from the late Romantic period, is a particular concern of his. Wedeking participated in radio broadcasts and made a recording for the Swedish label Sterling among others.
