The Artists

Thomas Strauß

Thomas Strauß was born 1965 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. He received his early musical education at the Conservatory of Strasbourg, France. He attended the State Academy of Music in Freiburg, studying with Hans Musch (organ), A. K. Klein-Sheljasov (piano) and Klaus Hövelmann (conducting). Further organ study began in 1990 with Ludwig Doerr, Xavier Darasse and Klemens Schnorr. Working towards the highest church music degree available in Germany, the „A-Exam,“ Thomas Strauß studied harpsichord with Robert Hill and choral and orchestral conducting with Hans-Michael Beuerle. He participated in masterclasses with many acclaimed organists such as Zsigmond Szathmary, Ludger Lohmann, Wolfgang Rübsam and Daniel Roth. In 1990 and 1991, he received recognition for his outstanding abilities as an organist by winning major prizes in the National Young Musicians Competition of Germany and the Conservatory Organ Competition. He was awarded the degree with honors in 1992. From 1990 to 1992 Thomas Strauß held the position of principal organist and choir director at the motherhouse of St. Vincent in Freiburg, Germany. Since 1993 he has been the organist and choir director at St. John The Baptist Catholic Church in Oppenau. In the same year, Strauß founded the „Bach Consortium Thomas Strauß,“ a chamber music ensemble, and in 1995 the „Bach Chor Ortenau,“ presenting larger works such as The Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach and Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. He serves as artistic director and conductor for both organizations and is initiator of the „Festwoche klassischer Musik“ in Oppenau. In 1998 Thomas Strauß and his „Bach Chor Ortenau“ were invited to Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia to perform Bach’s St. John Passion at the Bach–Händel Festival. In 1997 he had an organ masterclass and played at that festival as a harpsichordist and organist. In 2000 he concertized as a pianist with the Freiburg Chamber Choir in Brazil, and accompanied this choir on a concert tour of New Zealand in the summer of 2002. Since 2000 he has played piano for the vocal quartet “Quattro Voci.” In 2001 he founded „Festmusik Thomas Strauß,“ an agency, which specializes in music for weddings, jubilees, company events and mourning services. This versatile artist also performs with Wolfgang Bauer, professor, and is principal trumpet player of the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart. He is a harpsichordist in the „Wolfgang Bauer Consort“ and holds recitals with solo singers as a pianist. Thomas Strauß has performed in numerous television and radio broadcasts throughout Europe and in the United States. As an organist, he has recorded CDs with the „hr-brass,“ a group composed of instrumentalists from the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, a CD with the „datura-trombone-quartet“ and with The Bach Chor Ortenau as the conductor for The Christmas. He maintains a private teaching studio and keeps a busy schedule as a solo performer. Thomas Strauß played the organ and the harpsichord in concerts in Germany, France, Norway, Italy, Sardinia, Switzerland as well as in Hawaii and for the ninth time in the United States.

Bach Choir Ortenau

In 1995 when Thomas Strauß first brought together ambitious musicians, choir directors and singers from the whole Ortenau (an area in the southwest of Germany/Black Forest) to study and rehearse Johann Sebastian Bach St. John Passion, they thought that it would be only a single project. But everyone involved was so enthusiastic and enjoyed the preparations, rehearsals and the St. John Passion, and the musicians received such approval, this choir became a permanent institution after its first performance. Because the choir honored the pieces of Bach and his genius, this project choir was called “Bach Chor Ortenau.”

Because of the love of detail and fine musical sense, music director Thomas Strauß tries to elicit from his ensemble in a professional manner. Not the least of the reasons is that their concert audiences are fascinated and they always receive superb critical comment. “From heart it will go to heart!” – this quotation from the great composer and musician Beethoven is equally a motto and incentive for the choir and its director, Thomas Strauß. The music that they interpret is a thing of heart – one sees this in the selection of pieces the choir has performed in its short existence. In those seven years, numerous concert programs were rehearsed and performed with great success, pieces from such composers as Rossini, Elijah of Mendelssohn, Fauré, Schütz and of course Bach (St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion). A live recording of J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio led to producing a first double CD. In particular, the musical talent of director Thomas Strauß was the reason that the choir, hardly four years after its founding, led to the choir’s giving its first big concert tour. Invited by Shenandoah University, where in 1997 Strauß gave an organ masterclass and performed for the first time at the Bach-Händel Festival, the choir came to Winchester to perform Bach’s St. John Passion.

Holger Marks, tenor

Holger Marks was born in 1972 in Ludwigshafen/Rhein. He received his first singing lessons at the age of sixteen. From 1993 to 1997 he studied singing under Mrs. Prof. Marga Schiml at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Karlsruhe. From 1993 to 1997, he was student of Professor James Wagner in Hamburg. Holger Marks completed master classes with James Taylor, Helmuth Rilling and Christoph Biller (Bach-cantatas), Jean-Claude Malgoire (Baroque-Opera) as well as under Joan Morris and William Bolcom (Jazz). At the opera class of Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Holger Marks was involved in a number of productions. For example, he played Baron Kronthal in Lortzings Wildschütz, Julian in La Verbena de la Paloma by Tomás Bretón and Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Besides numerous contracts in Germany (Haydn’s Schöpfung, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Elias, Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium, Matthäus-Passion and Magnificat, Händel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem), he had opera and concert engagements in Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Prague, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris as well as at the Mosteiro São Bento, São Paulo, Brazil. Moreover he made recordings for radio stations and television channels in Germany and abroad as well as for CD productions.

The concert is free and open to the public. Ample parking is available behind the church, and the sanctuary is wheelchair-accessible. For more information, please contact Linda Hanson at (434) 963-4690.