FM
Biography
Peter Michael Hamel (born in Munich, 15 July 1947) is a German composer. His works have been associated with the Minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement.
Peter Michael Hamel ranks as one of the better known and successful German composers of his generation. He studied musical composition, psychology and sociology in Munich and Berlin with teachers including Günter Bialas and Carl Dahlhaus. He then attended workshops with Karlheinz Stockhausen and continued his education abroad, spending several extensive periods in Asia. Hamel has entered into an intensive engagement with musical cultures from outside Europe, especially Indian classical music. He has drawn inspiration from Asian philosophies and from encounters with the works of Jean Gebser and C. G. Jung in order to present music that seeks to make itself accessible to the listener through meditation and self-exploration. Also he worked and studied with American composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman and Terry Riley.
