Ulrich Walther was born in 1980 in Hagen, Germany, and studied concert organ, church and school music, and music education at the State Conservatory for Music & Performing Arts in Stuttgart, where his teachers were Ludger Lohmann, Jürgen Essl, Hans-Martin Corrinth and Willibald Bezler. He then furthered his musical training through private studies with David Sanger, and through participation in numerous masterclasses with artists such as Hans-Ola Ericsson, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Jon Laukvik, Daniel Roth, Gerhard Weinberger and Heinz Wunderlich.

He has won prizes in several international competitions, including Second Prize and Special Prize in Graz (2006) and First Prize and Audience Prize at the St. Albans International Organ Competition (2007), as well as First Prize and Special Messiaen Prize in the International BACH | LISZT Organ Competition Erfurt – Weimar – Merseburg, performing on historic organs (2008). As the recipient of a grant from the German Music Council, he was admitted in 2010/11 to the national-level selection in Young Artists’ Concerts.

Following a two-year stint as a visiting professor, Ulrich Walther was appointed Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the University of Music & Performing Arts in Graz.

As a concert artist, he has been the guest of prestigious festivals in Europe, Russia and America, including ION Nürnberg, Jeunesse Wien, St. Albans International Organ Festival, Thüringer Bachwochen, Notre Dame in Chartres, St.-Bavokerk in Haarlem, the Cathedral of Merseburg, the Concert Hall in Bamberg, Capella St. Petersburg, St. James Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, Moscow International House of Music, Frederiksborg Castle in Copenhagen, Birmingham Town Hall, Johanneksenkirko Helsinki and National Evangelical Church of Beirut.

Concurrently, his artistic profile is complemented by teaching international courses, improvisations for silent films, CD and radio recordings, publications in specialised journals and serving as a jury member for competitions. His research focuses on historical performance practice and musical practice within the area between transcription and composition, as well as the field of jazz and the hammond organ. In 2018 his 4-CD set of Max Reger’s complete organ arrangements was released as a premiere recording by Organum Classics (Ogm 174039), the album „Jazz-Spors-Bach“ (2018) offers a synopsis of Bach trio sonatas played on different organs in confrontation with their arrangements for jazz trio.

In January 2022, he received his doctorate in philosophy (PhD) from the University of Music and Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig with the thesis “concepts of interpretation and transcription on the organ.”

His repertoire spanning five centuries of genuine organ repertoire includes his own virtuoso arrangements (partly world premieres) for organ like Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Franz Liszt’s Sonate in b-minor and 2ème Ballade, Reubke’s Pianosonata in b-flat-minor, Mendelssohn’s Variations op. 54, Regers’ s Variations on a theme of Mozart, op.132 and a selection of Kapustin‘s concert etudes in Jazz-Style op. 40.

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