Manfred Stahnke was born in 1951. In 1966 he started to study piano, composition /music theory, 1970-74 also musicology in Freiburg, later continuing composition / music theory and musicology (from 1974 on) in Hamburg, 1979-80 microtonality and computermusic in the U.S. (Urbana, Ill. and Stanford, Cal.). Among his teachers there were Ben Johnston and John Chowning.
In 1979 he earned his doctorate in Hamburg with Constantin Floros; the subject of his thesis was Pierre Boulez' Third Piano Sonata. Manfred Stahnke studied composition in Freiburg in 1970-73 with Wolfgang Fortner, and from 1973-74 with Klaus Huber. As of 1974 his principal professor was György Ligeti.
Stahnke's works have a strong basis on microtonality and pulsative rhythms. The list of all his works is on his homepage: www.manfred-stahnke.de
He has written numerous essays about microtonal and other musical questions. He published two books ("Musik, nicht ohne Worte" and "Mikrotöne und mehr - auf György Ligetis Hamburger Pfaden"). His collected essays can be privately purchased: "Den Ton finden", constantly renewed. Details on his homepage. English texts are also available.
He has been an international lecturer, just recently in March 2012 in Basel, Switzerland.