Maria Linnemann

Maria Catharina Linnemann (born 1947) is a British composer and music teacher, based in Germany, who wrote mainly music for classical guitar including pieces for beginners.

Life and career
Linnemann was born in Amsterdam but grew up in England. She studied piano, violin, and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1966 bis 1970. She moved to Germany in 1971, where she discovered the classical guitar in 1973. Her mentor Martin Nicolai, excellent guitarist, composer, viola player and painter, encouraged her to continue after first guitar compositions emerged in 1976. Maria worked as a composer, music teacher, concert guitarist and member of juries in international guitar competitions for five decades, and still works as a composer and teacher in Hannover, Germany. Among her compositions which now number over 500 are many books of guitar solos, duets and trios for guitar, "Hommage" based on French folk songs, published by D'Oz, a suite for guitar and cello (for beginner and teacher), Guitar Suites, including "The Fantastic Journey" based on the book:"The Little Prince"(Saint Exupery), and the "Scenes from Don Quichote", as well as two volumes of short pieces for mandolin and guitar published by Trekel Verlag in Hamburg. Two volumes of her piano ballads have also been published by Ricordi. In her earlier days she wrote musicals for children and music for puppet theatre. Her main publisher is Casa Ricordi. but 'Haus der Musik Trekel' in Hamburg have published ten volumes of her music.

Recordings
One of her compositions for guitar was recorded by Heike Matthiesen in 2016. Her solo album Guitar Ladies features exclusively compositions by women, Sidney Pratten (1821–1895), María Luisa Anido, Ida Presti, Sofia Gubaidulina, Sylvie Bodorová, Annette Kruisbrink, Carmen Guzman (1925–2012), Tatiana Stachak (born 1973) and the work by Linnemann dedicated to the player. A reviewer summarised: "Guitar Ladies by Heike Matthiesen is a wonderful collection of repertoire by prominent and historical composers. The all-women conceptual base ties the album together and, along with the works by Maria Linnemann dedicated to Matthiesen, represents an important repertoire exploration as well as a personal touch and contribution from the performer."