Gerd Schlaf

Gerd Schlaf is a versatile musician because he works as a concert organist, songwriter, composer, arranger and conductor.

He studied at the college of music in Cologne with professor Peter Dicke and took numerous master courses in improvisation with Jean Guillou.

He was interested in jazz very early and looked after numerous bands already to student days at the university. Since then he works and arranges for several hig school bands and Big Bands.

Gerd Schlaf completed additional studies in choir and orchestra management and founded the vocal ensemble Musica nova in 1986 with which he lists many compositions of his own and new arrangements of works composed by Bach, Handel, Puccini and Jacques Loussier.

In 1990, he got to know Jacques Loussier. Jacques became a teacher and dear friend to this day. He encouraged Gerd to perform his Mass composition “Lumieres” in 1994 as a premiere in germany and asked him to write a setting of the work for little orchestra.

Jacques Loussiers swinging Bach Trio was the exemplary imagination for the construction and performance of jazzarrangements of Johann Sebastian Bachs Mass in B minor in 2012 and St. John Passion in 2013.

Gerd Schlaf was an asked arranger around the frame work events of the soccer World Cup in 2006. He was the arranger and leader of the “World Cup CultTour band“ and he appeared with great success in numerous towns.

Since 2013 Gerd Schlaf has begun to bring his innumerable arrangements in a readable form and he wants to make them accessible to a broad public.

He would be very pleased about re-registrations and enquiries.