Bernhard Bentgens

Bernhard Bentgens (2007)

Bernhard Bentgens (born November 1, 1956 in Duisburg ) is a German composer , conductor , singer-songwriter , choir director and master of the ceremony .

life and work

Bernhard Bentgens was born as the son of the auditor Theodor Bentgens and the teacher and singer Maria Bentgens. In 1981 he passed his state examination at the Folkwang Music Academy in Essen-Werden. His main subjects were piano, organ, singing, choir and orchestral conducting. From 1981 to 1983 he worked as a musician with the orchestra of the Mannheim National Theater . Between 1982 and 1984, Bernhard Bentgens studied musicology with Ludwig Finscher in Heidelberg and with Alexander Ringer in Illinois. In 1984 he performed his first solo song program. In the following five years, Bernhard Bentgens was the musical director of incidental music at the Heidelberg City Theater. From 1987 to 1992 he was given a teaching position at the Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences.

From 1989 he worked as a freelance composer for theater, television and radio in Germany and abroad. Bernhard Bentgens has been leading the Heidelberg HardChor and 1. FC Heidelberg since the same year. With the clown trio “Extra Nix” he toured together with Rosemie Warth and Thomas Nigl on renowned festival stages in Europe and Canada. During this time he worked with various orchestras, such as the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Hessian Radio Orchestra, the Saarland Radio Orchestra, the Freiburg Symphony Orchestra and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and composed the film music for the ZDF series Der Plakatierer .

Bernhard Bentgens has been a presenter at galas and symphony concerts since the 1990s. Since 1992 he has been part of the regular cast of the monthly live radio show Zungenschlag in Heidelberg. Various radio productions followed. Bernhard Bentgens has been organizing the Schöne Lügen chanson festival together with Roger Back since 2001. Since 2005 he has been leading a choir of mothers and fathers of the English Institute in Heidelberg "The Mamas and Papas". In 2007 he and his wife Julia Bentgens founded the Metropolitan International School with crèches, kindergartens, elementary schools and high schools. Since 2014 Bentgens has been head of the “Complaints Choir / Besserwerdechor” in Heidelberg.

Awards

1984: Mannheim Cabaret Prize
1984: "Terpsichore" (Baden-Württemberg Cabaret Prize)
1993: Special jury prize at the Charlie Rivel Memorial, Barcelona, with Extra-Nix
1993: Third prize at the Printemps De Courge Festival, Toulouse, with Extra-Nix
1996: Cabaret Prize Baden-Württemberg (1st Prize)

Programs CDs and books

1984 solo song program "Unterwasserlieder"
1988 Solo song program "Musenfrust"
1995 CD: “Bentgens. Songs for the brain, heart and stomach "
1995 "Concert in 3D" program
1997 CD "Bentgens live"
1998 CD "Bentgens plus live"
2000 program and CD with band "Hallo Zukunft"
2001 Musical "Whether the heart finds its way to the heart"
2001 Solo program "Feel-Pleasure"
2003 Musical "Oh, that it would stay green forever"
2003 Solo program "Buddha with the Fishes"
2005 CD "Lametta im Bikini"
2006 CD "Sing im Unsing"
2007 “Mama Mia” program with Maria Bentgens
2012 program and CD (2015) “Bentgens and the 3 Music Animals” with Peter Antony, Tom Beisel, Bernhard Heuvelmann and Peter Saueressig
2014 “Schwarmsingen” series of events in Halle02 in Heidelberg
2016 Two volumes of chamber music "Music for violin" and "Music for piano"
2016 CD "Beyond North and South"
2017 CD "Seven"
2018 Two books "Gedichte1" and "Blötschkopp" (prose)
2019 premiere of the "Circus inclusioni" with the complaints choir
2020 book “Magician of the Senses, Poet of Passion” 222 songs by Bernhard Bentgens

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Bentgens, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German composer, conductor, singer-songwriter, choir director, and emcee
DATE OF BIRTH	November 1, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH	Duisburg