Hermann Kretzschmar, born in 1958, studied music education and German literature and subsequently piano with Bernhard Ebert in Hanover. He became a member of the Ensemble Modern in 1985, where he works as a soloist and chamber musician.
In 1994 he founded HCD Productions together with Catherine Milliken and Dietmar Wiesner. HDC has released the CDs Migrations (works by Paul Bowles), Surface Tension (works by Howard Skempton) and the audio plays Denotation Babel (Prix Italia 1999), Cosmic Memos based on Calvino and Die Blüte des nackten Körpers (R. Schrott, 2011). Since 2001, Kretzschmar has realised the following audio plays: Zur Zeit-revisited (2001/3), John Cages Stufen (2002), Strahlungen (2004) (Hörspiel des Monats Mai), Harmonies of Paradise (2006), Doktor Faustus (2007), Arnold auf dem schönen Berg (2009), Der Tod in Rom (2009), Het Witte Kind (2010), Kuno Kohns Capriccio (2011), Soundcuts Wasserkuppe (2011) und Superpslam (2016). In 2016 has been released the audio piece Manhatten Transfer with Leonard Koppelmann, 2017 his two early audio plays Zur Zeit-revisited and John Cages Stufen (with voices of Walter Zimmermann, Fredric Rzewski, Hans Zender and Dieter Schnebel). On his portrait CD released by Ensemble Modern Median he performs Knotts Klavier, works from 1991-2007.