Heinrich Poos

About Heinrich Poos

Heinrich Poos was born in Seibersbach / Hunsrück in 1928. After his first musical training in piano and organ he studied church music (Berliner Kirchenmusikschule and Hochschule für Musik), mathematics, musicology, philosophy and theology (Freie Universität Berlin) with Ernst Pepping, Boris Blacher and Heinz Dräger, among others, in Berlin. His work with the choir Spandauer Kantorei under Gottfried Grote, the instrumental training with Herbert Schulze (organ) and the composition lessons with Ernst Pepping in particular were starting points of Poos' work as a composer.

In 1964 he did his doctorate in musicology at the Freie Universität Berlin on Ernst Peppings Liederkreis für Chor nach Gedichten von Goethe. As up-and-coming composer he received the Advancement Award for Young Composers of Serious Music, Stuttgart in 1962 and the Prize of the Carl Engel Foundation, Duisburg in 1963.

From 1971 to 1994 Heinrich Poos was professor of music theory at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste while also having teaching assignments and holding guest professorships at the Berlin Technical University and the University of Frankfurt/Main. His oeuvre was awarded numerous composition prizes. In 1987 he received the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.