Hans Otte

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Hans Otte (born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany, December 3, 1926) is a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen. He still lives and works in Bremen, Germany. His current worklist contains more than 100 works.

He studied in Germany, Italy, and at Yale University in the United States. His teachers have included the composer Paul Hindemith and the pianist Walter Gieseking.

Some of Otte's works, especially his extended suites for solo piano, are characterized by very minimal means but are nevertheless quite subtle and sophisticated in their architecture and expression. Das Buch der Klänge (The Book of Sounds, 1979-82) and Stundenbuch (Book of Hours, 1991-98) are his best known works in this vein, and Otte often performed them himself. His last public recital was given in Amsterdam in 1999. Recordings of these works, with Otte as performer, are available on CD.

In his works, Otte draws significantly on European and Asian spirituality, integrating various prayers into the fabric of the music. Although some have categorized him as a "new age" composer, this is an inaccurate characterization.

In 1991 the "Hans-Otte-Klanghaus" became a permanent sound installation in the Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen in Bremen, Germany.[1]