Norbert Ommer

German sound engineer. Ommer studied piano and clarinet in Cologne, Germany followed by studies of music and information technology at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, where he graduated as a sound engineer. Since 1980, he has worked as a freelance radio and television sound mixer. He has worked regularly with the Ensemble Modern as director of sound since 1990 (and became a shareholder in 1997) and at the same time has worked as a regular sound mixer for the WDR Bigband. He has been involved in numerous international festivals like Wien Modern, Frankfurt Feste, Festival d'Automne in Paris, Arts Musica Brussels, Holland Festival, Salzburger Festspiele, BBC Proms, Donaueschingen, Edinburgh International Festival, Lincoln Center Festival and the Telstra Adelaide Festival. In November 2002, he was awarded the Golden Bobby which was given out for the first time by the VDT (Society of German Sound Masters) and is awarded for extraordinary performances in sound design and sound directing. Early in 2003, Ommer collaborated for the first time with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and Peter Eötvös. Norbert was in charge of the sound design and sound direction for Frank Zappa, Heiner Goebbels, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Steve Reich to name but a few. Composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann, Louis Andriessen, Kaija Saariaho, Fred Frith and artists like Lalo Schifrin, Bill Viola and Patti Austin have worked with him as their director of sound.