Christian Kütemeier was born in 1976 in Karlsruhe. As a sixteen-year-old, he joined the guitar class of Sonja Prunnbauer at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg. He received his performance degree (Diplom) in 2000 and subsequently studied with Jürgen Rost at the Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar, where he completed his graduate studies (Konzertexamen) in performance (2003). While in Freiburg he also studied lute with Fritz Mühlhölzer and historical performance practice with Robert Hill and Ekkehard Weber.Along with his activities as an instructor at the Musikschule in Südschwarzwald, he gives regular concerts as soloist and with various chamber music groups. A significant part of his pedagogical and artistic work is devoted to arranging works in various styles, as well as writing original compositions of his own. In addition, he is active as a director of choirs and other ensembles.Christian Kütemeier has been the recipient of many prizes at national and international guitar competitions, beginning with the first prize at the the national Jugend Musiziert competition in Darmstadt (1993). Following this, he went on to win second prize at the International Guitar Competition in Templin (1994) and first prize at the Anna Amalia Competition in Weimar (1995). In subsequent years, he was a prize winner and finalist in various other competitions including the Stotsenberg International Guitar Competition in Malibu, California, USA, the Karl Scheit International Guitar Competition in Vienna, and the fourteenth International Guitar Competition in Carpentras, France, for which he won the second prize and the jury’s special prize. In 2003, he won the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb in Berlin and received a grant from the Konzertreihe Junger Künstler (KJK). In 2005 he won a sponsorship prize from the VoBa-Hochrhein-Stiftung for his musical achievements. www.christian-kuetemeier.de
