Peter Michael Hamel

German composer and musician (primarily keyboards), born July 15, 1947 in Munich, Germany.
Hamel learned to play piano, violoncello, violin and horn in his childhood. He was interested in composing, mainly to support his father Kurt Peter, who was a well-known actor and theatre director.
He studied composition at the in the class of Günter Bialas. There, he also get known, a fellow student in his class.
In 1967, both were part of the free music scene in Munich-Haidhausen, where they met often with other musicians at the club "Song Parnass". While there was a group forming around Hamel, he also forced composition in the late 1960, when he worked together with John Cage and attended couses of Karlheinz Stockhausen.
A group formed in Haidhausen around Hamel decided in 1970 to form a band, which first was called "Between All CHairs" (B.A.C.H.) and eventually shortened to Between. The name was a description of their music, which was intended to be between popular and classical music. Hamel was keyboarder and composer. The band recorded its debut album in 1971 and in the following years, several albums followed. On the following albums, the concept of the band changed. Hamel was in India to study traditional Indian music and this was projected in the band's music. He mixed Jazz and poetry on the album "Hesse Between Music" and "Dharana" was a Pop symphony. The band existed until 1980, when it was disbanded by Hamel.
In the 1980's, Hamel concentrated on operatic works (e.g. "Ein Menschentraum" and "Kassandra") and on composing multi-influental classical works. In 1994, he gained his first professorship in Graz. In 1997, he started a professorship for composition and music theory at the. In 1998, he founded an intercultural music institute in Aschau, Bavaria.
Hamel received many awards from the 1970's to the 2010's for his contribution to composition and intercultural approaches in music.