Michael Fuehrer was born and grew up at the Rhine in Cologne, Western Germany. His Father was always interested in old music, so he grew up with harpsichord and clavichord, hearing all Bach etc. At the age of 13 he began to get information on the harpsichord, with 16 his teacher became Annemarie Bohne who organised masterclasses with Gustav Leonhardt which he visited. After finishing school, he studied church music in Cologne (with Heino Schubert, Rudolf Ewerhart etc.), then harpsichord with Jos van Immerzeel in Antwerp. From 1975 until 1988 he worked as organist and choirmaster in Heimbach/Eifel. In St. Clemens he played the organ by Dauzenberg (1879 II/21, tracker action). He was involved in the plans and the supervision of the construction of the Salvatorchurch (finished 1981) and got a new organ by Beckerath, Hamburg (1985, III/38). With these organs he made a LP for Mitra in 1986. He completed his studies: Church Music in Düsseldorf (with Heinz Bernhard Orlinski, Diplom 1983) Harpsichord in Cologne with Hugo Ruf (Diplom 1984) and studied musicology, history and french at the University of Cologne.
From 1989 to 2011 he worked as church musician at Hl. Dreikoenige, Neuss. The organ there was built by Walcker in 1940/1950 with electric action, but in 2002 following his plans renewed by Klais, Bonn with new windchests mechanical action, 2 swells and 1000 combinations (III/49). More about this organ here.
From July 2011 until Easter 2015 he worked as church music director at 5 churches in Grevenbroich.
Besides following many masterclasses (at Innsbruck, Pistoia, Haarlem etc. with Colin Tilney, Guy Bovet, Ewald Kooiman, Ton Koopman, Nicholas Kynaston, Daniel Roth etc.) and playing a lot of concerts on harpsichord and his large Repertoire on famous organs, he has restored old keyboard instruments and built copies of harpsichords. Read more about his CD „My Virginals“. More photos: at his harpsichord after Goccini - at a spinettino (15th century).
Since 1989 he is married to Ursula Renzel, organist and choir director at Christ König Neuss. They have 2 daughters.
In his free time, he likes to go sailing, hiking and flying with paraglider and glider.
From october 2015 to august 2016 he sailed with his Catamaran Vagabund, crossing the atlantic ocean and passing the Panama-channel. 2017 he travelled with his daughter Dorothea to Australien, 2018 further on to New Zealand, then alone to Polynesia and again to New Zealand. 2019-20 1st time to North America and 2021-22 to South America.
Some recordings from concerts and videos you can see at Youtube.
Recent informations you may also find on facebook.