Prof. Siegefried Pank

Siegfried Pank was first a student at Landesschule Pforta, then became a member of St. Thomas Boy’s Choir Leipzig. Following his violoncello studies at the Leipzig academy of music with A. Eichhorn, he played in the Gewandhaus orchestra from 1962 to 1980. During this time, he began dedicating himself to the viola da gamba, receiving inspiration from W. Kuijken and J. Savall. After lecturing at the Leipzig academy of music from 1980 onwards, he was appointed professor in 1988, and in 1991 founded and established its Early Music department.

As a soloist and member of leading ensembles, he performed all over Europe, in Israel, the USA and Japan. He produced a great number of recordings of a wide spectrum of repertoire for national and international broadcasting corporations and labels. He also published numerous articles and studies on the performance practice of the 17th and 18th century. His activities include holding seminars and masterclasses at home and abroad, as well as serving in the juries of national and international competitions including the Deutscher Musikrat competition, Bach Competition Leipzig, Telemann Competition Magdeburg and Bach-Abel Competition Köthen.

He is president of the International Telemann Society and of the International Telemann- and Bach-Abel Competitions. Highly commended for his services, he has been honored with the Georg-Philipp-Telemann award of the city of Magdeburg (2012), Eitelfriedrich-Thom-Prize in Michaelstein (2013) and Order of Merit of Saxony-Anhalt (2018).