Ib Hausmann

Ib Hausmann is one of Germany's top clarinetists, with a long list of first-rank chamber music and orchestral collaborators. As his career has developed, he has increasingly often become involved in modern performance forms, improvised music, including jazz, and theater music. Hausmann was born in East Berlin in 1963. He plays various clarinets and the basset horn. Hausmann studied with Ewald Koch in Berlin and later with pianist Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Hausmann was also influenced in his musical thinking by composer György Kurtág, whose impact went far beyond composition. By 20, Hausmann had already become the principal clarinetist of the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, and two years later, he was named to the same position with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Hausmann won several international prizes, including the IJI radio competition of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Oriented toward contemporary music from early in his career, Hausmann made his recording debut in 1995 with the Pellegrini Quartet on the Hat Hut Records label, performing Morton Feldman's Two Pieces for clarinet and string quartet in multiple versions. In 1998, he recorded Max Reger's complete music for clarinet and piano with pianist Nina Tichman for the Hänssler Classic label. Hausmann made his concerto debut in 2000 with the Minnesota Orchestra at the Musikverein in Berlin. That year, Hausmann and Lukas Hagen co-founded Ensemble Serapion. Hausmann has appeared at major venues in many countries, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and Italy's La Scala opera house. His collaborators are a varied group, including many string quartets, violinist Daniel Hope, baritone Christian Gerhaher, and jazz pianist Peter Wollny, who joined Hausmann in jazz adaptions of music by Mahler. Hausmann has played improvised music of various kinds and has broadened his reach to include theater projects and music in various avant-garde configurations. He is also a composer, having issued works such as Ohnung (1996). As a composer, Hausmann is self-taught. He has made several recordings, including a performance on the Deutsche Grammophon label's Grammy-nominated Music from Theresienstadt release. Hausmann has recorded for various labels, including Naxos, Neos, and CAvi-music, where he was heard on a 2022 recording of Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps with the Amatis Trio.
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