Leo Kremer (organ, Germany)
Leo Kramer began his musical education with church music. His organ teachers were Ludwig Dorr, Gaston Litaize and Michael Schneider and his piano teachers were Adrian Aeschbacher and August Leopolder. He studied conducting under Sergiu Celibidache, Gunter Wand and Eugen Jochum.
He has been a prize-winner of international organists competitions in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Italy and he performs in concert throughout the world. For the last thirty years he has been the Principal Conductor and Organist at the Cathedral in Speyer and is the director of the Speyer Cathedral Days of Music festival. His greatest achievements as a conductor include his collaboration as Principal Conductor of the Estonian P hilharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since 1996 Leo Kramer has worked with the Chamber Orchestra, Honoured Ensemble of Russia. He has toured abroad with the festival, and in St Petersburg he has performed Bachs St Matthew Passion and St John Passion, Mass in B Minor, the Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohns Elijah oratorio, and he ran the festival Bach Mendelssohn: Continuity of Traditions, as well as series of historic concerts featuring music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms. He is enthusiastic about teaching and regularly appears as a jury member of several international organists competitions.