Jan Steffen Bechtold

Jan Steffen Bechtold was born in Worms on the Rhine in 1972 and grew up in Köppern im Taunus. He started playing the organ at the Evangelical Church when he was just a teenager. It’s also in Köppern that he founded his first choir, the “Ecumenical Youth Choir”, with whom he developed sacred and secular choral works from all eras.
During this time, he received valuable musical inspiration from his organ teacher Britta Martini and, as a member of the Friedberger Kantorei, from the directors Werner Jahr, Candida Kirchhoff and Ulrich Seeger.

He studied musicology in Salzburg - Rupert Gottfried Frieberger had a particular influence on him during this time - and received his church music training from Hans Josef Knaust (organ) and cathedral music director Prof. Janos Czifra (choir director). In addition, he completed the Kapellmeister training of the Salzburg Brass Music Association with Landeskapellmeister Hans Ebner. He then directed the Salzburg Railway Music Association for 4 years. From 1998 to 2006 he was in charge of the church choirs Hof bei Salzburg, Rohrdorf (Chiemgau) St. Vitalis (Salzburg)and Elsbethen.

In 2000, the “Bach Year”, he founded the Jubilate Choir Salzburg, with whom he launched the International MESSIAH Choir Festival Salzburg / "Salzburg sings!" In February 2010, Jan Steffen Bechtold was appointed district choir director of the Flachgau region by the President of the Salzburg Choir Association. In 2011 he took over the artistic direction of the International Cantus MM Music & Culture Festival in Salzburg.
In the summer of 2016, he took over the musical direction of church music at the Evangelical Resurrection Church in Salzburg, where he founded a vocal ensemble for regular church services.

In addition to choral music, brass music is another “elixir of life” for him. He has been playing horn since 2000 and the bassoon since 2007 for the Musikkapelle Hof b. Salzburg.

Jan Steffen Bechtold works full-time as a qualified nurse at the school Glanbogen in Salzburg. He is married to Angela and is father to two daughters and a son.

Specially composed for the Cantus MM Festival by Kurt Martin Herbst, the “Song of Peace” is the final common piece of the Gala Concert. Under the direction of Jan Steffen Bechtold, a tutti rehearsal will be taking place in the afternoon before the concert.