German Conductor

The German conductor Elke Mascha Blankenburg began her musical journey at the age of six, receiving piano lessons from her mother, Anneliese Feldmeyer. She later took up the violin and developed a passion for ballet. Her early experiences in music performance included singing in various choirs and playing violin with the Heidelberger Universitätsorchester. In 1963, she pursued studies in church music, choir, and orchestra conducting at the Musikhochschule in Heidelberg, Schlüchtern, and Köln, as well as under Hans Swarowsky in Vienna.

In 1970, Blankenburg moved to Köln, where she served as a church musician at Christuskirche Köln-Dellbrück for 20 years. During this time, she founded the Kölner Kurrende choir, quickly elevating it to a high standard of performance. The choir gained recognition as a prize-winner in national and international competitions and performed a diverse repertoire, including a cappella works and major oratorios by composers such as Bach, Händel, Mozart, Brahms, Dvořák, Verdi, and Orff.

In 1978, Blankenburg co-founded the “International Working Group Women and Music” in Köln (now based in Kassel). This organization aimed to promote the works of female composers, both past and present. She led the group until 1981 and served as the artistic director of the first “International Women Composers Festival” in Bonn and Köln in 1980, which showcased works from various eras and garnered international attention.

Blankenburg founded the Leonarda Ensemble Köln in 1981, a soloist ensemble dedicated to premiering vocal works by female composers from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The ensemble performed widely, both in Germany and abroad.

In 1986, she established the Clara Schumann Orchester Köln, the only professional women’s symphony orchestra in West Germany. Under the patronage of Anke Brunn, the Minister for Science and Research of North Rhine-Westphalia, the orchestra focused on performing works by female composers from the Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras.

Blankenburg was appointed director of the National Youth Choir by the Landesmusikrat Niedersachsen in 1988. In 1990, she stepped down from her position as a church musician to pursue a freelance career as a conductor. She collaborated with symphony orchestras in Germany and internationally as a guest conductor.

In 1995, Blankenburg partnered with Gabriella Pallenberg to create the Orchestra Clara Schumann Roma, a sister ensemble to the German Clara Schumann Orchestra. Composed exclusively of professional musicians, the orchestra’s concerts received significant attention from Italian TV and radio stations. The following year, she founded and became the artistic director of the Accademia Musicale Europea Francesca Caccini in Rome.