• Biographical details


    Hans Erik Deckert (b. 1927, Hamburg), the son of German and Danish parents, grew up in Germany and moved to Denmark shortly after the war in order to study cello and conducting in Copenhagen. His career in these fields, and more generally as a passionate animator in the field of chamber music, has developed from posts held at academies in Germany, Denmark and Sweden to his present freelance activity throughout Europe, Africa and Latin America. Hans Erik Deckert's roots in the German musical tradition have given him a depth of musicianship much in demand at solo and chamber masterclasses and seminars, which is mixed with a concern for the wider social responsibility of music, stemming from his Scandinavian environment. Also, Deckert's encounter with the phenomenology-based thinking of Sergiu Celibidache has been of particular importance for his increasing activity as lecturer and writer on many problematical aspects of our present musical life.

    Presently Hans Erik Deckert is Honorary President of the Danish section of ESTA (which he also founded in 1978) and resident conductor with the Cello Academy (which embraces a professional 12-part cello ensemble as well as regular training courses for students) and the Cellifamily with whom he has toured to Latin America, Egypt and South Africa. He also holds a visiting post at the Freie Musikschule in Hamburg. Hans Erik Deckert ran and runs various music workshops such as: Cello Master Class in Steinfeld/Germany, Cello Children Camp at his home, Orchestra, Chamber Music and Cello Workshop in Alsbach-Hähnlein/Germany, Chamber Music at the Witten/Herdecke Hospital in Germany, Chamber Music in Jindrichuv-Hradec/Czech Republic and many others.

    Animation projects have included lecturing on musical teamwork at DaimlerChrysler management headquarters in Stuttgart, and along conferences such as the 4th European Conference on Smart Materials and Structures organised by the University of Sheffield in Harrogate/UK, the 12th Internat. Symposium on Materials and Civilization organised by the Osaka City University in Osaka/Japan, Sekem and Heliopolis University outside Cairo/Egypt, Northwestern University in Evanston/Illinois in the USA or recently with the Goethe-Institute in Santa Cruz/Bolivia.