Wolfgang Baumgratz (born 10 October 1948) is a German organist and academic teacher. He is the organist of the Bremer Dom, and professor of organ at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. He has toured in Europe as a concert organist and made recordings. He was president of the international association Gesellschaft der Orgelfreunde from 1998 to 2013.
Born in Meersburg, [1] Baumgratz received his musical training in Heidelberg and Freiburg im Breisgau, where he studied with Ludwig Doerr. [1] He passed the A-examination in Protestant church music in 1976 and worked as cantor at the Johanneskirche in Merzhausen from 1971 to 1976. He completed two years of organ studies on a scholarship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), studying in Amsterdam with Albert de Klerk. [1] In 1978, he completed the soloist's examination in organ. [1] [2]
In 1979, Baumgratz was appointed as successor of Zsigmond Szathmáry as organist at the Bremer Dom. [1] [3] One year later he received an organ teacher position at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen (HfK Bremen), and in 1984, he was appointed professor of organ there. [1] [3] Five years later he was appointed head of the HfK Bremen church music department.
Since 1982, he has been the organ expert of the Bremen Protestant Church. [1] In 1990, he became Vice President of the international Gesellschaft der Orgelfreunde e. V. (GdO). He was the association's president from 1998 [1] [4] to 2013. [5] When he retired in 2014, Baumgratz took over an organist position at the Protestant St. Remberti congregation in Bremen (in addition to being a full-time church musician), whose Fischer+Krämer organ (1993/94) he had helped design.
His concert tours as an organist have taken him through many European countries, and he has made numerous recordings. [1]