Samuel Kummer

He played concerts internationally and made award-winning recordings. He taught at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Dresden from 2007.

• Name — Samuel Kummer • Born — 28 February 1968 • Birthplace — Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany • Died — 23 April 2024 • Place of death — Dresden, Saxony, Germany • Occupation — * Organist • Academic teacher • Education — State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart • Organizations — * Frauenkirche, Dresden • Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Dresden • Awards — * Diapason d'Or • Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik

Kummer was born in Stuttgart on 28 February 1968. He studied church music at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, organ with Christoph Bossert, Werner Jacob and Ludger Lohmann, and specifically Orgelimprovisation with Willibald Bezler, Hans Martin Corrinth and Wolfgang Seifen. He took master classes with Marie-Claire Alain, Hans Fagius, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Olivier Latry and Jean-Claude Zehnder. He passed his A exam in 1997 with a distinction in improvisation.

Kummer performed in concert from 1988, in Europe, the Americas and Japan. He played in concert series including the European Organ Festival in Maastricht, where in 1996 he won the first prize in the Concours L'Europe et L'Orgue, and the International Bach Festival in Warsaw. He gave concerts at the Cologne Cathedral, Riga Cathedral, the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He played several times at the Guatemala Cathedral, where he supported the restoration of the 1937 Walcker organ in 1999. In 1998 Kummer was appointed a Lutheran district church musician (Bezirkskantor) in Kirchheim unter Teck. During his tenure he conducted several oratorios, including Frank Martin's In terra pax. He instituted a concert series, Orgelmusik zur Marktzeit (Organ music at market time), and played the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. On 11 May 2016, the centenary of Max Reger's death, he played Reger's Variationen und Fuge über ein Originalthema, Op. 73, at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, broadcast live by WDR.

In 2005, Kummer was appointed the organist at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, when the church was reopened after the completion of its restoration from destruction in World War II. The restoration included a new Kern organ, an instrument for all musical styles, instead of the church's Baroque Silbermann organ. For his inaugural recital, Kummer chose music by Bach, Brahms, Reger, Louis Vierne and his own composition. He shaped the profile of music there in many regular services, according to the church adding "depth and spirituality" by his playing, especially in improvisation. He co-founded a concert series, Dresdner Orgelzyklus (Dresden Organ Cycle), which includes performances on the organs of three churches in Dresden, the Kreuzkirche, the Hofkirche, and the Frauenkirche. In addition he performed as organ soloist at the Frauenkirche in orchestral works including the Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante with the Chemnitz Philharmonic in 2007. • Illustration — Kern organ of the Frauenkirche From 2007, Kummer was also a dozent for organ repertoire, liturgical performance and improvisation at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Dresden. Kummer was dismissed from the Frauenkirche in 2022 with stated reasons of unreliability and unpunctuality. Music journalist Claus Fischer of the MDR commented at the time that Kummer was perhaps more an artist than an organiser, and thus not ideally suited to the position.

Kummer was married to Irena Renata Budrytė-Kummer. He died on 23 April 2024, at the age of 56. According to his family, he collapsed at Dresden Main Station on his way to teaching in Würzburg, where he had been appointed to a summer position at the Hochschule für Musik.