STEFAN HUSSONG

stefan hussong

accordion

“No, Stefan Hussong’s high accordion artistry is not only overwhelming. It touches. It is gripping. It moves one. It touches one’s heart. It makes one listen. It goes deep and leads one to think about the nature of music, about its language and one’s relationship to music.”

— Alfred Thiele

“… we are dealing with an artist who plays the accordion with gripping passion. In particular the Tanguedia III by Piazolla, arranged by Stefan Hussong himself, became the breathtaking highlight.”

— Anita Molnar

“An amazing experience-made possible by two masters of their craft.” [with Mike Svoboda, trombone]

— RP-online

“Between original and arrangement Hussong opens access to experimental areas, the exploration of which could set in motion new discoveries. That is quite a lot.”

— nmz.online

“Stefan Hussong lets his instrument whimper and whistle, vibrate and crackle, exhale and bellow. An unbelievable variety of sounds express the emotions and feelings brought on by tragic events. With breathtaking precision Stefan Hussong and Armin Fuchs show the shock, the pain, the impotence and also the hope that are associated with tragic misfortune.”

— Mainpost Regional

“The virtuosity of Stefan Hussong and Wu Wien in the cycle Two3 is an inner one. It is a mastery of common intuition, to constantly check oneself as the interpreter of which impulses to employ and where to let the music develop itself.”

— BR-Klassik

“This CD, made in Japan, has in Yumiko Meguri and Stefan Hussong very sensitive and sound-oriented interpreters.”

— Neue Zeitschrift für Musik

“…a once-in-a-lifetime experience.“

— Keyboardart

“Bach on the accordion, phenomenal.”

— Fono Forum

Stefan Hussong, born in Koellerbach an der Saar, Germany, is First Prize winner of the 1983 International Hugo Herrmann and the 1987 International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition for contemporary music. In 1999, he was awarded the Echo Classic Prize of the German Phonoacademy in the category Best Performer. That same year his Solo-CD for Denon with works by John Cage won the Best Record Award of the year. Hussong has premiered more than 150 works dedicated to him and he has recorded more than 40 CDs, some of which have won several prizes.

Stefan Hussong has appeared in concerts throughout Europe, the United States, South America, Russia and almost all of Asia. He has appeared at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Ultraschall Berlin, Suntory Festival Tokyo, Leipzig New Music, Munich Biennale, Triennale Cologne, Brussels, Wien-Modern, Moscow Bajanfestival, Warszaw-Autumn, Rheingau, Archipel Geneva, Festival Nancy, France, Takefu and Akiyoshidai in Japan and “Meet the Moderns” in San Francisco.

As a soloist, he has appeared with, among others, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, Seoul Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk Symphonieorchester Saarbrücken, the Tokyo Harmonia Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Sinfonietta, and Tokyo Shin Nippon Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has closely closely collaborated with composers such as S. Gubaidulina, K. Harada A. Hölszky, H. Lee, D. Eagle, N.A. Huber, E. Mendoza, T. Ichiyanagi, T. Hosokawa, U. Rojko and K. Huber, etc., who have dedicated more than 80 works to him.

Mr. Hussong has recorded for Denon, EMI, Wergo, Thorofon, Mode-records, Col Legno, Koch-Schwann, Ars Musici, ranging from the Baroque to contemporary works.

Stefan Hussong studied with Eugen Tschanun, Hugo Noth, Joseph Macerollo and Mayumi Miyata at the Universities of Trossingen, Toronto and Tokyo (Geijutsu Daigaku). He is a recipient of scholarships from the D.A.A.D. Foundation, the “German Scholarship Foundation,” Academy Solitude Stuttgart and the Art Foundation of Baden-Württemberg.

In 1989 he served as visiting professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Today he is a professor for accordion and chamber music at the Würzburg University of Music, and since 1993 has been a Professor at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum Salzburg.