Johannes Engels is one of the most accomplished specialists of baroque flute music. He was born in 1950 in Eschweiler (Rhineland), grew up in Düsseldorf and graduated from high school in Aachen. He then studied recorder and flute at the Rhineland State University of Music in Cologne, and after completing his studies taught for three years at the Aachen Sing- und Musikschule. In 1978, he received a full-time teaching position at the Hermann Zilcher Conservatory of the City of Würzburg. After the conservatory became part of the University of Music in 2001, he worked for two years at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. From October 2003 to November 2015, Johannes Engels headed the Department of Culture of the City of Würzburg as cultural manager. At the same time, he always maintained a teaching position at the University of Music Würzburg for literary studies of orchestral instruments and voice, which will be expanded to include early music starting in the 2021/22 winter semester.

Since December 2015, he has been chairman of the Musikalische Akademie Würzburg e. V. - the sponsoring association of the University of Music Würzburg - and thus also responsible for the master concerts. As president of the Johann Sebastian Bach Society Würzburg e. V., he is responsible, among other things, for organizing the annual Bach Days Würzburg, which take place at the end of November.