The Romanian composer of German ethnicity Walter Michael Klepper was born in Lugoj, where he studied at the German High School, this being the place where he initially stood out musically, with his first appearance as conductor of the choir of this institution, at the age of 14 years. After the abolition of the German schools at the end of the war, he moved to the steelmaking technical school in Reșita, which he finished as a turner.

However, parallel to the technical school, he attended the music school in Reșita (violin, piano and music theory) and made public appearances as an orchestra conductor. After a short period of time in which he was a technician and choir conductor in Reșita, he moved to Bucharest, where he attended the courses of the “Ciprian Porumbescu” Conservatory, with Marțian Negrea as his composition teacher. This period brings him his first successes in the field of composition, thanks to his first Symphony and a piano sonata.

After finishing his studies, in 1958, he became the Artistic Director of the Cinematography Symphony Orchestra in Bucharest. The year 1960 brings him the status of a member of the Union of Composers from Romania, and in the period 1962-1972 he continues his activity as a freelance composer, piano teacher and head of a chamber orchestra. He returned to the Conservatory in Bucharest, this time as a teacher of musical forms and orchestration, following that in the period 1968-1970 he also managed the institution’s music studio.

In 1970 he moved to Brașov where he taught for two years at the Faculty of Music of the University of Brașov. Later, for a short time, he became the artistic director of the State Opera in Bucharest, during which it was led by the writer Mircea Horia Simionescu.

The name of maestro Walter Michael Klepper is closely related to the “Ion Vidu” Choir from Lugoj, with which he has collaborated since 1977, the year in which he was also awarded the Romanian Composers’ Union Award for Symphony No. 2. At the request of the conductor Remus Taşcau, he wrote several choral compositions such as: the choral suite “From Banat” and the choral suite on lyrics by M. Eminescu “The Wish”. Also, in the period 1991-2002, he organized three concert tours of the “Ion Vidu” Choir in Germany, a country to which he emigrated in 1983 due to conflicts with the communist regime. Here he ends up working as a choir conductor in various towns in the Rhein-Main area, while continuing his work as a composer, especially of choral music.

With his soul still in his hometown, immediately after the Revolution of 1989, Klepper performed an intense humanitarian activity to help Lugoj, organized together with the choral association “Mozart” from the town of Trebur (Germany), of which he was the conductor.

In his last years, he became a constant presence as a guest on the “Secrets of Classical Music” series broadcast by Radio Reșita, the success of which led him to work on a manuscript about these experiences, which will be published posthumously.

His affinity for choral music did not prevent him from composing in other genres, from symphonies to chamber music. Thus, among his compositions are: the symphonic triptych “Impressions from Reşita”, the chamber cantata for soloist and orchestra “Remember”, “Small Concert” for woodwinds, piano and percussion, piano sonata, duo sonata for flute and viola, etc.

All his works composed up to 1983 were kept in the archive of the Radio Bucharest station, Symphony no. 1 and “Impressions from Reșița” being published by the Electrecord record company itself. Bayerischer Rundfunk München also recorded his work Concertino for Winds, Piano and Drums, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi included it in the Anthology of East German Music.