SHORT PORTRAIT

HansPStroeerFotoAnnetteHempfling

HANS P. STRÖER

is one of Germany’s top composers for audiovisual media. He recently delivered the score for the Original Netflix Documentary Series „A Sinister Sect – Colonia Dignidad“, released worldwide on october 1st 2021. Hans composed music for more than 100 films, that have won more than 60 national and international awards, including many German Television Awards, Bavarian Television Awards, several Grimme Awards, several Baden-Baden Television Awards, several New York Festivals, Houston, Banff, among others for

„Thomas Mann - A Novel of the Century" (International Emmy Award 2002) and

"Buddenbrooks" (Roma Fiction Fest 2009 / Best Score of all Categories) by Horst Königstein and Heinrich Breloer.

As a producer in a team with his brother Ernst Ströer and their Hamburg friend and director Horst Königstein, Hans produced twelve albums with Germany’s biggest rock star Udo Lindenberg, the hits "Horizont", "Ich lieb dich überhaupt nicht mehr", "Ein Herz kann man nicht repariern", as well as the Udo album "Hermine" (1987) with the last voice recording of Marlene Dietrich.

Hans P. Ströer was born in Munich, his grandfather accompanied the first silent films as a pianist in the cinema in Prague, his father played the violin, his mother played the guitar and taught him the first fingerings. At the Richard Strauss Conservatory and with Prof. Rainer von Zastrow he received lessons in classical ear training, musical notation, guitar, violin and piano.

Inspired by the Beatles single "I Want to Hold Your Hand", Hans installed an electric pickup in his children's guitar at the age of 7 and began writing his first own songs. At 11, he animated his classmates and formed his first own band, performing as a rock 'n' roll singer in Munich's U.S. clubs at the age of 15.

His music teacher at the Thomas Mann Gymnasium brought him to the Munich Residenztheater, where he played banjo in the ensemble with Bobby Jones, Michael Degen, Margot Werner and many others under the direction of George Tabori in over 60 performances of Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera.

He met jazz guitarist Volker Kriegel at a late-night jam session at Munich's Domicile jazz club, and from 1975 to 1985 he played over 1,000 concerts as bassist and composer with Volker Kriegel's "Mild Maniac Orchestra" on tours through Europe, Africa and Asia. The group received the German Record Prize in 1977.

At the same time, during the heyday of Munich disco, Hans worked as an arranger and studio musician on recordings by international performers such as Dschingis Khan, Falco and Amanda Lear. In the project "Trance-Formation" of the multimedia artist Eberhard Schoener he played in 1977 / 1978 on recordings and tours together with Sting and The Police. (TV appearances on "Rock-Pop" and in Alfred Biolek's "Bios Bahnhof").

Since 1978 Hans has released his own experimental records together with his brother Ernst Ströer (Ströer Bros. - „Fluchtweg Madagascar", "Nomads" and "Voodoo Travel" with Howard Fine) and the brothers wrote together "Das Musikhörbuch", about listening to music. (Schott Publishing House)

In cooperation with the Goethe Institute, Ströer Bros. took over the live programming and musical direction of the "German KunstDisco Seoul," the official German cultural contribution to the Olympic Arts Festival at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. They engaged 136 young musicians and DJ Westbam, who played music produced exclusively for the occasion during the Games.

In the course of his musical journey, Hans received numerous gold records as a producer, the German Record Prize, the German Record Critics' Award, the Actors and Arts Soundtrack Award 2002, as well as the German Television Award 2002 in the category "Television Event of the Year" for "The Manns - A Novel of the Century," and in Rome the Maximo Award Roma Fiction Fest / Best Score of all Categories for "Buddenbrooks" 2009.

As a musical border crosser between mainstream and avant-garde, between film, jazz, pop and theater, Hans enjoys the artistic adventure, the ever new challenge of demanding projects in collaboration with interesting partners.

Hans P. Ströer is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as well as a member of the national board of the German Composers Association.

CONTACT via email

Photo: Annette Hempfling

Hans P. Ströer