The short version
- Edgar Froese died of a pulmonary embolism in Vienna on 20 January 2015. On 6 April the remaining members and his wife, Bianca Froese-Acquaye, agreed to carry the band on along the lines he had drawn.
- Tangerine Dream today is Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick. Frick is the first member to join since Froese's death.
- There have been two studio albums, Quantum Gate in 2017 and Raum in 2022. Both grew out of sketches Froese left behind.
- The band is still touring. The official site lists Halle on 17 October 2026, five British cities in February 2027 and Poland in May.
Thorsten Quaeschning was frank with Prog magazine in 2017. He would have been very hesitant to carry on with Tangerine Dream after Froese died, he said, but Froese insisted. "It was an order from Edgar, and you never disobeyed him!" Ulrich Schnauss put it the same way in the same interview: the choice had been made for them, by Edgar.
Vienna, January 2015
Edgar Froese died suddenly in Vienna on the afternoon of 20 January 2015, of a pulmonary embolism. He had founded the band in 1967. The band's story is in Tangerine Dream, where to start.
Three months later, on 6 April, the remaining members, Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss and Hoshiko Yamane, sat down with Bianca Froese-Acquaye, Edgar's wife and the band's manager. According to the official biography, the four agreed to keep working together to realise Edgar's vision for Tangerine Dream. He had left more than concepts and ideas. He had left a large number of musical sketches.
The vision had a name. The official site calls it the Quantum Years: an attempt to turn ideas from quantum physics into sound, which Edgar had already begun before he died. The first music from it was a small disc, Mala Kunia, issued for a concert in Melbourne in November 2014.
Three people
Thorsten Quaeschning was born in Berlin in 1977 and had been a member since 2005. The official site says Edgar made him the band's musical director in 2013, two years before his death. He leads the band now.
Hoshiko Yamane, the violinist, was born in Osaka in 1981 and joined in 2011. She and Quaeschning are the two members still in the band who played on stage with Edgar.
Ulrich Schnauss joined in 2014, and the official list of former members gives his time as 2014 to 2020. In June 2020 Paul Frick became a full member. Born in Berlin in 1979, he also plays in the electronic group Brandt Brauer Frick, and in 2019 he had played several shows with the band, in Berlin and at the Barbican Hall in London. He is the first member to join since Froese died.
- Members
- Thorsten Quaeschning (since 2005), Hoshiko Yamane (since 2011), Paul Frick (since 2020)
- Leader
- Quaeschning, made musical director by Edgar Froese in 2013
- Manager
- Bianca Froese-Acquaye
- Studio albums
- Quantum Gate (29 September 2017), Raum (25 February 2022), both on Kscope
- Recent live releases
- Coventry Cathedral 22 (2025), 50 Years of Phaedra: At The Barbican (2026)
Two records from the sketches
Quantum Gate came out on 29 September 2017, fifty years after the band began. The official site says it was made between August 2014 and June 2017 at Eastgate Studios in Vienna and Townsend Studio in Berlin, and it runs 70 minutes 52 seconds. It missed the main UK album chart but reached 18 on the dance albums chart and 16 on the independent albums chart.
The second, Raum, followed on 25 February 2022. The official site says the band made it with full access to Edgar's Cubase arrangements and to his Otari tape archive, recordings from 1977 to 2013. It entered the German album chart at 39 and went to number one on the UK dance albums chart.
No new studio album has appeared on the official release list since. Live records have. The concert at Coventry Cathedral on 11 March 2022 came out in 2025, and the Phaedra fiftieth-anniversary show at the Barbican on 7 October 2024 came out in 2026. For where the cathedral concerts began, see December 1974: the cathedral, and for the 1974 record, the Phaedra review.
On stage
The first concert after Edgar's death was in Szczecin, Poland, on 9 June 2016. In 2018 the band sold out the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and played two nights at the Union Chapel in London. According to the official biography, every show ends with a real-time composition of about 20 minutes, which the band calls a Session.
The shows went on through 2026. The official archive lists Malmö, Oslo, Tromsø and Stockholm in February and three cities on the American West Coast in August. Still ahead: the Händel-Halle in Halle, Germany, on 17 October 2026; Norwich, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol and London from 2 to 7 February 2027; and from 13 May, five Polish cities including Kraków, Warsaw and Gdańsk.
How to listen
- Start with Raum, the record the three of them built on the files Edgar left. Listen for what survives from the sound of the 1970s records.
- Then put on the 1974 title track from the Phaedra review and cross fifty years in one go.
- If you go to a show, stay for the Session at the end. That piece exists for one night only.
Where to get it
Both studio albums came out on Kscope. Editions differ, so check the listing before you buy.
