He was born in 1971 in Mönchengladbach, Germany, grew up in Niederkrüchten, a small German village on the Dutch border and now lives in Birmingham, UK.
This has resulted in pieces with unusual instrumentations (His 2012 twelve-minute-long opera The Voyage in collaboration with Birmingham-based theatre company Stan's Cafe, for example, is written for mezzo-soprano, eleven recorders and double bass[3] ), performances in unusual places (wahnsinnig wichtig on ice [with New Guide to Opera] took place on and around an ice rink) or projects of unusual duration (his Spring Symphony: The Joy of Life is the shortest symphony in the world[citation needed] and lasts around 17 seconds and the performance of Wir sehen uns morgen wieder [with New Guide to Opera] lasted for one month).
[5] Clements' unfavourable review of this piece highlights how Wolters' work sits purposefully uncomfortably within the Western concert tradition.
In contrast, Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian's chief arts writer called I see with my eyes closed, his first collaboration with Theatre Company Stan's Cafe, "fascinating, oddly moving territory".
His music for Danserye, a dance project in collaboration with the German choreographer Sebastian Matthias, toured Germany,[9] Switzerland, Belgium[10] and the Netherlands[11] in 2013.