Klemens Schnorr is Professor emeritus of Organ at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg. He also served as the cathedral organist at the Freiburg Cathedral and works as a sessionl lecturer at the Italian Organ Academy in Pistoia. He was born in 1949 in Amorbach, Odenwald, and appeared on the Stumm organ at the former abbey church while still a student. He is still closely connected to his home town through his activities as concert advisor to the Prince of Leiningen, and as artistic director of the Abbey Concerts. Following his studies at the Musikhochschule and University of Munich (organ with Franz Lehrndorfer, M. A. in Musicology under Rudolf Bockholdt), he was a prizewinner at international organ competitions in Avila, Bologna, Innsbruck, Munich (ARD Competition) and Nijmegen. In 1986 he was given an arts grant by the Bavarian government, and before he landed his position in Freiburg, he worked as a church musician, instructor and organ expert in Würzburg and Munich. In the academic year 2002/3, he became the founding rector of the Hochschule for Catholic Church Music and Music Pedagogy in Regensburg. He has served as the head of the jury in several international competitions, including Graz (2006), Kaliningrad (2007) and Saragossa (2009). Along with his teaching and concert work, he is also active as an arranger and editor, and has published articles on organ music and organ playing in the “Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche” (Herder-Verlag/Freiburg), and in the “Handbuch Orgel-Musik” (Bärenreiter-Verlag/Kassel).
