Stefan KAGL

STEFAN KAGL (Germany) studied organ performance at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts under Klemens Schnorr, as well as theory and church music composition with Robert M. Helmschrott and Enjott Schneider. He continued his music studies at the Schola Cantorum in Paris under Jean Langlais and Marie-Louise Langlais, and at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris. He was awarded the Prix de Virtuosité at the Schola Cantorum and completed the A-exam in church music and the artistic state examination in organ at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. At the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, he received the Premier Prix and the Prix d'Excellence. His Paris and London debuts in 1988 at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and St. Paul's Cathedral in London with works by Reubke and Langlais marked the beginning of his successful concert career. He has performed at major cathedrals, churches, and concert halls across Europe, Russia, and the USA, including venues like Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Mariinsky Concert Hall during the Stars of the White Nights 2011 festival. In 2018 alone, he traveled over 51,000 concert tour kilometers in Germany, Southern and Northern Europe, Russia, and the USA. He is the first-prize winner of the international César Franck Competition organized at St. Bavo Church of Haarlem in the Netherlands. From 1991 to 1996, he served as city and district cantor in Bad Kissingen, and from 1997 to 2002, he was cantor of the two main churches in Rudolstadt, Thuringia. Since July 2002, Kagl has served as a cantor and organist at the Herford Minster and an artistic director of the Herforder Orgelsommer festival. As a choir conductor, he has rehearsed and conducted all major oratorios and choral symphonic works. Since 2005, he has been a lecturer for artistic organ playing and improvisation at the University of Church Music in Herford. In 2018, he was appointed Kirchenmusikdirektor (church music director), and in 2019, he became the organ consultant for the Westphalian regional church. His activities also include radio and CD recordings (including two recordings with Tournemire and Langlais in 2007 for the Motette-Ursina label, John Ireland's organ works in 2008 for the CPO label, the CD 10 Years of Herforder Orgelsommer in 2010 for Motette label, and the new CD Russian Dreams featuring organ transcriptions of Borodin and Mussorgsky on the organ of the Church of St. Leodegar in Lucerne, Switzerland), as well as publications in professional journals.