Board Member
Andreas Knapp is a German professional photographer and music manager. He leads the HANGARMUSIK orchestral integration project and has worked with some of the most influential individuals, institutions and events in music, including Sir Simon Rattle, Frank Zappa, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Lucerne Festival.
Andreas’ parents owned a music school and he grew up in an environment of communal music teaching and playing. Therefore, his later encounter with José Antonio Abreu and El Sistema was both a form of homecoming and the inspiration to found HANGARMUSIK in Berlin.
Andreas’ career has, however, always been closely aligned to musical and social projects. And, his social engagement started while studying philology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, during which time Andreas worked at the Fritz Bauer Institute for the History and Impact of the Holocaust. This period of Andreas’ life also saw him employed in concert and tour management for, amongst others, the Ensemble Modern, the Salzburger Festspiele and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival; engagements which led to him working with renowned personalities such as Leonard Bernstein, György Ligeti, Helmut Lachenmann, Peter Sellars and Frank Zappa.
From 2002 to 2018, Andreas’ work in music management notably saw him become the personal assistant of Sir Simon Rattle during his time as the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
As a photographer, Andreas work includes both artistic and documentary work and he has been particularly focused on the documentation of cultural and social themes since 2003.
This focus on cultural and social themes came to the attention of José Antonio Abreu, who, in 2004, commissioned Andreas to photographically document El Sistema. This long-term assignment continued over the course of the next decade and led to him regularly spending time in Venezuela up until 2014. Since then the photographs from this project have been displayed at festivals and in concert houses in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
And, El Sistema is not the only large musical organisation that have employed Andreas' photographic talents, he has also been engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, the Lucerne Festival and the MIAGI Youth Orchestra to document projects in Asia, South America and the USA.
On top of his photography and his work in music management, Andreas has also increased his own personal focus on asylum, migration, integration and social conciliation under the aegis of the concept of neue Nachbarn [new neighbours] since 2015.
In 2016, Andreas subsequently founded HANGARMUSIK which looks to enable children from refugee backgrounds to become part of their local community by engaging in classical music in an orchestral setting.
Andreas’ work with HANGARMUSIK also led to his involvement with Sistema Europe and he became a member of the board of Sistema Europe in autumn 2019.
Information valid as of winter 2019.