Michael Niesemann

Oboe, Alto Saxophone
(Germany)

Michael Niesemann is musically active in a wide field – from Baroque Music on period instruments (oboe/recorder) to Jazz and Avantgarde on both saxophone and oboe. 

He is alto saxophonist in two ensembles founded by Barry Guy – the legendary London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO) and the Blue Shroud Band. 

As a conductor he has worked mainly under the umbrella of historical performance practice as well as with modern orchestras within colleges. At the Folkwang University of the Arts he founded the Impr%rchestra, drawing together students of all departments (music, dance, design, acting, etc.) in free improvisation projects. Since 1992 he enjoys his position as principal oboist of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the English Baroque Soloists, both founded and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. He has been principal oboists for Musica Antiqua Köln, conducted by Reinhard Göbel and was a founding member of Concerto Köln as well as Il Concertino Köln.

With all these orchestras and formations Michael has recorded a vast amount of music in all fields. He performs worldwide in a wide range of styles. On his journeys he uses every opportunity for his photography. The relation between the arts of photography and music are of special fascination to him. Making the invisible visible, relationships between seemingly unrelated existences (objects/ experiences/ essences) and abstract photography are his special interest.

Since 2007 Michael Niesemann has been professor of oboes at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen and was formally professor of Baroque oboe at Musikhochschule Würzburg.