Dr. Franz Ferdinand Kaern-Biederstedt was born in 1973 in Crailsheim/Jagst (Baden-Württemberg/Germany) and has been living in Leipzig/Germany since 2001.
He studied music education for secondary schools (with bassoon as the main instrument and composition and music theory as a main emphasis subject) at Musikhochschule (University of Music) in Trossingen and Hochschulke für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (University of Music and Performing Arts) in Frankfurt/Main. There he studied musical composition with Prof. Helmut Cromm and Prof. Norbert Fröhlich (Trossingen) and Prof. Gerhard Müller-Hornbach (Frankfurt). He then majored in composition with Prof. Ulrich Leyendecker at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Federal University for Music and Performing Arts) in Mannheim, followed by master studies in music theory and ear training at Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HMT, University for Music and Theater) „Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy“ in Leipzig.
In 2014 Franz Kaern-Biederstedt received his doctor's degree in music theory/musicology – also studying at HMT Leipzig with Prof. Dr. Gesine Schröder - by submitting his dissertation „Die Harmonia Cantionum ecclesiasticarum des Leipziger Thomaskantors Sethus Calvisius – Entstehung, Quellen, Stilistik (Beiträge zur Gattungsgeschichte des Kantionalsatzes)“.
In 2000 Franz Kaern-Biederstedt received the Mendelssohn-Award of the Universities for Music in Germany and of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural heritage Foundation). In 2002 he was rewarded the first price in the international composition competition for choir music in Harelbeke/Belgium with his Three Sonnets against Vanity after sonnets by William Shakespeare for mixed choir. In 2004 he received a scholarship from the Kulturstiftung Sachsen (Cultural Foundation of Saxony).
Franz Kaern-Biederstedt is teaching music theory, ear training and composition at the HMT in Leipzig.