“His works are characterized by a raw expressive intensity, an idiosyncratic use of color, and unconventional instrumentation.”

Egbert Hiller, Deutschlandfunk

“an exceptionally talented, imaginative and intelligent composer”
Prof. Jörg Birkenkötter

Jonas Otte (*2000 in Chemnitz, Germany) is a contemporary music composer whose work is deeply rooted in piano performance and improvisation.
His music translates the physical experience of playing and listening into sound, exploring states of hypersensitivity, bodily intensity, and ecstasy. He is currently pursuing a concert examination in composition with Prof. Dr. Gordon Kampe in Hamburg. There, he also completed his master's degree in composition, before that he completed his Bachelor studies in composition with Prof. Jörg Birkenkötter and in piano with Hwa-Kyung Yim.

He already has given composition seminars at the Lübeck Academy of Music (2024) and at Yaşar University in Izmir, Turkey (2025), where he also taught a piano masterclass at the Rita Maria Epik Music School.

Awards & Scholarships

• 2026 | 45-minute portrait on Deutschlandfunk: "Body and Sound – The Composer Jonas Otte" by Egbert Hiller

• 2025 | Deutschlandfunk Composition Prize at the German Music Competition ("Deutscher Musikwettbewerb")

• 2022 | Residency scholarship at the Beethoven House in Bonn
• 2022 | Selected for the "Touching Sounds" project at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music

• since 2021 | Scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation "Studienstiftung des deutschen Vokes"

• 2017 | Sponsorship prize at the "Jugend komponiert" competition
• 2012 | First prize at the "Jugend Musiziert" competition

Jonas Otte has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Trio Catch, Ensemble Resonanz, E-MEX Ensemble, Ensemble Eins, Hamburg Ballet, and LUX:NM. In addition to festivals in Germany (Darmstadt Summer Courses, Hamburg Days of Contemporary Music, ne(x)t generation 8.5 ZKM Karlsruhe, hell:wach 24 Göttingen, Oranienburg Palace Concerts, etc.), he has also performed internationally (Izmir New Music Days, Tel Aviv International New Music Festival, REF Resilience Festival, etc.) and participated in masterclasses with, among others, Lisa Streich, Charlotte Seither, Sarah Nemtsov, and Francesco Filidei.