artist Steffen Schleiermacher (born 1960), German composer and pianist Michael Schönheit (born 1961), German organist and conductor Irina Pauls (born 1961), German choreographer Tobias Künzel (born 1964), German pop singer Simone Kermes (born 1965), operatic soprano Frank-Michael Erben (born 1965), German violinist Ralf Stabel (born 1965), German theatre scholar / dance scholar Sebastian Krumbiegel (born 1966), German pop singer Matthias Goerne (born 1967), German singer David Timm (born 1969), German pianist, organist, choral conductor and jazz musician Nadja Uhl (born 1972), German actress Christel Loetzsch (born 1986), German mezzo-soprano Louise Collier Willcox (1865–1929), American author, editor, anthologist, translator, suffragist [Soo Jung Kwon]] (born 1979), Pianist, educator, musician Notable faculty Adolph Brodsky (1851–1929), Russian violinist, later Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music Ferdinand David (1810–1873), German violin virtuoso and composer Johann Nepomuk David (1895–1977), Austrian composer Karl Davydov (1838–1889), Russian cellist Niels Gade (1817–1890), Danish composer Friedrich Grützmacher (1832–1903), German cellist Moritz Hauptmann (1792–1868), German composer and writer; Thomaskantor Diethard Hellmann (1928–1999), German organist and choral conductor Peter Herrmann (1941–2015), German composer Salomon Jadassohn (1831–1902), German composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933), German composer Julius Klengel (1859–1933), German cellist Paul Klengel (1854–1935), German violinist, pianist, composer Kolja Lessing (born 1961), German violinist, pianist, composer and academic teacher Fabien Lévy (1968– ), Composer Kurt Masur (1927–2015), German conductor Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847), German composer, pianist and Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Founder Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870), Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso Oscar Paul (1836–1898), German musicologist and writer Günther Ramin (1898–1956), German composer, organist, cembalist, conductor, Thomaskantor Max Reger (1873–1917), German composer, conductor, pianist and organist Carl Reinecke (1824–1910), Danish composer, conductor, and pianist Julius Rietz (1812–1877), German cellist, composer and conductor Ernst Friedrich Richter, German music theorist; Thomaskantor Wilhelm Rust, German musicologist and composer; Thomaskantor Richard Sahla (1855–1931) Austrian violin virtuoso, conductor and composer Friedrich Schneider (1786–1853), German composer and conductor Gustav Schreck, German music educator and composer; Thomaskantor Clara Schumann (1819–1896), German pianist, teacher, and composer Robert Schumann (1810–1856), German composer, aesthete and influential music critic Hans Sitt (1850–1922), German violinist and composer Karl Straube, German Organist and choral conductor; Thomaskantor Wolfgang Unger (1948–2004), choral conductor, director of Leipziger Universitätsmusik Institute of Church Music The Institute of Church Music (Kirchenmusikalische Institut) was refounded 1992. The institute has a prominent role in Germany because of Max Reger (1873–1916), Kurt Thomas (1904–1973) and Günther Ramin (1898–1956). It offers programs in church