Mense, Festive Christmas for String Quartet

Rene Mense was born on February 22, 1969, in Hamburg, Germany. His musical journey began in 1981 with his first classical guitar tuition and compositions. He continued to expand his musical skills by taking piano lessons in 1982 and private piano lessons with Conrad Hansen from 1984 to 1986. Between 1988 and 1995, he studied Composition and Music Theory with Ulrich Leyendecker at the College of Music and Theater in Hamburg and has been working as a freelance composer since then.

In addition to his studies, Rene pursued classical guitar tuition with Ralf Jarchow from 1995 to 1998. Since 2000, he has closely collaborated with Weimar cellist Christina Meißner and the ensemble Klangwerkstatt Weimar, engaging in various performances and projects at notable venues and events. Notably, in 2002, Rene was commissioned to compose "Child of Ocean" for the NDR Hamburg's "das neue werk" series and witnessed the French premiere of "En Face d'en Face" at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Throughout his career, Rene has received several accolades for his compositions, including the 1st prize at the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award in Tokyo in 2001 and the 3rd prize at the composition contest of the Hanauer Kantorei in 2008. Furthermore, he has been active as an arranger for Peermusic Germany since 1989 and has served as the Chairman of the Gesellschaft für Neue Musik Hamburg e.V. since 2007.