Kastenholz, Willi (*1949) Germany

Willi Kastenholz, born in Cologne in 1949, has graduated from the Cologne College of Music with degrees in school music (Hermann Schröder), solo piano (Alfons Kontarsky) and vocal accompaniment (Wilhelm Hecker) as well as from the University of Cologne with a degree in German studies.
From 1976 to 2011 he worked as a teacher and taught music and German as a director of studies at the Cologne Epiphany Grammar School.
Kastenholz works as a choirmaster and pianist as well as a composer and editor successfully. As a participant in composition and choral competitions he has won several awards repeatedly. He was employed as a juror in numerous competitions and singing contests.
In 1992, the professional association of German occupational choirmasters appointed him music director and elected him second manager in 2010.
Since 2002 Kastenholz has cared for the edition of the works of the Cologne composer Mathieu Neumann. The choral association of the country North Rhine-Westphalia appointed him to the music committee in 2007 where he has achieved an excellent reputation as an expert in questions of a cappella literature. With a literature database (→ www.cvnrw.de)  containing nearly 8000 a cappella works, which is being arranged by him at the moment and constantly updated, he offers a valuable service concerning knowledge, sighting and providing of choral works or song arrangements from the past and present to male and female choirmasters even beyond the borders of the country.