SEBASTIAN GOTTSCHICK was born in Düsseldorf to a family of church musicians. He studied violin, composition and conducting in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and at the Juilliard School in New York. The broad spectrum of his interests and experience – in contemporary and early music, as conductor, composer and arranger, violinist, violist and teacher at the Cologne Conservatory (HfMT Köln) – is reflected in his compositions.
Gottschick was Artistic Director of the Ensemble Oriol Berlin from 1994 to 2000. From 1994 through 2003, he was Musical Director of the New Opera Berlin. He was also violist of the Manon Quartet Berlin from 1995 through 2011. He appeared as soloist with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Ensemble Oriol Berlin, and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, among others.
As conductor he has worked with ensembles including Klangforum Wien/Vienna, MusikFabrik Köln/Cologne, the Düsseldorf Symphoniker, the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Radio Orchestras in Frankfurt, Warsaw, Berlin, Stuttgart und Munich. He also appeared at the KonzertTheater Bern, the State Theater Saarbrücken, Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon, La Fenice in Venice and at the Basel Theatre. He enjoys a longstanding collaboration with the ensemble für neue musik zurich. Numerous recordings with that ensemble include the Charles Ives Songbook, Gottschick’s adaptation of Ives’ songs. Two further CD’s were released in 2020, one of Gottschick’s chamber music (Notturni), and a second volume of Ives songs (Another Songbook). His arrangements for the Alliage Quintet (four saxophones and piano) have been released by Sony Classics, including Stravinsky’s „Firebird“ with Sabine Meyer. The CD Dancing Paris, for which Gottschick arranged works by Enescu, Milhaud and Copland, was awarded an Echo Prize in 2010.