Joachim Gruner

Joachim Gruner (18 August 1933 – 23 September 2011) was a German composer and percussionist.

Life Born in Neukölln, Gruner received piano, organ and violin lessons as a child. After Abitur, which he took in West Berlin for political reasons, he worked for two years in a chemical company in East Berlin before he began studying at the West Berlin Academy of Music in 1953. He was taught by Hans Lembens in timpani and percussion, by Heinz Friedrich Hartig in harmony, by Boris Blacher in instrumentation and by Ernst Pepping in counterpoint. He also received private lessons from Blacher and Hartig, through which he became acquainted with contemporary music.

After completing his studies, Gruner joined the Mecklenburg State Theatre as a drummer and after a season of playing at the Städtische Bühnen Erfurt.

His musical legacy is kept in the German Composers' Archive in the .

Gruner died in Berlin at the age of 78.