Klaus Damm (2026)
Klaus Damm
* 1949 in Bergheim near Cologne · † August 2026 in Essen
Klaus Damm died in Essen in August 2026, a few weeks after completing his last composition
“mystic sphere”. He had presented it here on 18 July 2026.
In his text on this work he wrote:
Perhaps still to be sensed as the hinted contours of a memory, being and non-being, life and death unite in the dazzling white noise into an inseparable unity, a metaphor of being human.
Klaus Damm, “mystic sphere” (2026), translated from the German
From his biography
The integration of music, artistic designs, and spoken word in diverse creative forms was at the heart of Klaus Damm’s artistic work.
Klaus Damm began his artistry in 1971 mainly with artistic and lyrical works while he was studying musicology and German studies in Bonn and subsequently in Bochum. He further developed his artistic vision and craft at the Ruhr University Arts Centre under the tuition of the informal painter Hans-Jürgen Schlieker.
Klaus Damm was trained as a composer at the Folkwang University of Music, Drama, and Dance in Essen (today: Folkwang University of the Arts). He started there as a student under the tuition of Nicolaus A. Huber in 1975. In 1978, he became the first ever composer to win the Folkwang award. He then went on to specialize in algorithmic composition and electronic music under Dirk Reith. His compositions were produced at the WDR (West German Broadcasting) and performed at New Music centers. He became an enthusiastic, committed participant on the board of the Essen Composers’ Association and an active member of the "Cologne Society for New Music". His position was documented by articles in specialist media and lectures.
In 2003 Klaus Damm also resumed his composition work and from 2007 on found an independent, condensed language of sound and images. Unaffected by current cultural market trends, he developed his interdisciplinary concept of "visible music".
In 2010, after the years of retreat, Klaus Damm reintroduced himself to the wider public as a composer and artist with the premiere of his sound and image composition “Im Lied des Phoenix” at Frankfurt Cathedral (Kaiserdom) and an accompanying solo exhibition.
Full biography · Curriculum vitae
His work
The catalogue of works brings together his compositions, Video Visiographies and image galleries –
and works from his estate that he did not publish during his lifetime.
