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The composer Dr. Ludger Hofmann-Engl was born in 1964 in Bamberg (Germany). He has been living in London since 1991 and was the chair person of the Chameleon Group of Composers between 1995 and 2000. In 2004 he was working at Essex University as a Senior research officer(investigating aspects of virtual pitch perception). From 2002 till 2006, he was employed as the music teacher for the Link Schools London (special needs schools for children with autistic spectrum disorder).
He studied composition with Dr. L. Schilling at the Nuremberg Conservatory and attended Luigi Nono's public lectures in Berlin. In piano, he was instructed at the Sacred Music Institute Erlangen and as a master pupil by E. Sternlicht in Berlin. At the Technical University Berlin he completed his MA with Carl Dahlhaus and Helga de la Motte Haber in music science, philosophy and theoretical physics. During his studies he successfully modified Terhardt's model on virtual pitch and pitch salience. In a paper delivered during the 9th ICMPC (Bologna, 2006), he demonstrated that his model outmatches other existing models.
He completed his PhD in 2003 in psychology (Keele University) with John Sloboda as his main supervisor and Alan Marsden (University of Lancaster) as his external supervisor. In his research project he investigated issues related to cognitive/melodic similarity and melodic transformations. Talks given regarding these issues include the University of Southampton, the University of Texas at Dallas, City University London and King's College London and during a number of international conferences. In 2006, he published a paper on the issue of preventing child abuse.
As a composer he believes in the necessity to create music of cognitive relevance. Thus, many of his compositional tools are based upon his cognitive research. He endeavors to develop complex musical structures which are in accordance with life experience - exceeding any description by simple models - creating music which he understands to be life affirmative. In this sense his music is related to basic concepts of descriptive statistics and information theory. His aesthetics are influenced by Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. At present he is working on his first opera�ber die Sprache(About language). Three pieces based upon poems by A. E. Housman were completed in 2004 and have been reviewed by Kevin Whittingham (Housman Society Journal, volume 30, 2004).
At the end of 2003, he premiered his three waltzes and his Fantasia in London. In a review, Paul Reader wrote that Chopin's last Mazurka (op 68.4) was played to perfection. In 2006 he participated during the XV symposium of contemporary music in Rosario (Argentina) as a pianist, composer and lecturer.
Hofmann-Engl's work includes ca 55 compositions. His zweite symphonische Arbeit is published on CD (VMM 3003), a recording by the Polish Radio and TV Orchestra Krakow in 1991, so is his erste Klaviersonate (VMM 2016) recorded in 1995 with him as the performer. His music has been featured regularly on German Radio. As a pianist he appeared on German Radio and in concerts in London, Vienna and Berlin, Rosario and elsewhere. His composition Abstract I for viola, bassoon and harpsichord (duration ca. 35 min) was produced by the Bavarian Radio in February 2004. In 2006, his piece Klangfarbenmusik for Chamber Orchestra was premiered by the Ensemble Rosario (Argentina). Composers Library has released two of his works: Cyclone (piano solo) and the facsimile edition of his zweite symphonische Arbeit. He recorded his Klangfarbenmusik for piano in 2005. He premiered this composition in Rosario in 2006.
In October 1999, he organized two simultaneous concerts with Internet live broadcasts held at the ICA London and New York in collaboration with the New York group Friends and Enemies of New Music. During the 5th anniversary and last concert of Chameleon Composers in 2000, he was acclaimed for his pianistic skills.
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