Dietmar Bonnen

Dietmar Bonnen (born July 27, 1958 in Cologne ) is a German composer and pianist.

Life

Dietmar Bonnen studied music and art in Cologne and Düsseldorf. In 1981 he founded the avant-garde rock ensemble Fleisch , with which he recorded several CDs of his own compositions. After two years of production, in 1991 he presented "Bonnen plays ..." a CD with organ music of the 20th century, which for the first time - made possible by recording techniques from pop music - combined organs and acoustics from different churches in the same piece. In addition to works by György Ligeti , Paul Hindemith , Charles Ives and Max Reger , compositions were recorded that were specially written for this project and cannot be realized on conventional organs. Two early pieces by John Cage are included as first recordings: "Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two Voices in Canon, and Six Short Inventions on the Subjects of the Solo" from 1933/34 and "Composition for Three Voices" from 1934.

In the following years, many CD productions were made in different musical genres, such as the one-hour soundscape composition »Beijing«, recorded in 1993/94 for the WDR in Beijing and Cologne, or CDs, the music of other composers such as Frank Zappa and Hildegard von Bingen , Jimi Hendrix , Kurt Weill , Willie Dixon , Claudio Monteverdi in new arrangements.

Concerts in Europe, Asia, South America and especially Russia led to long-term collaborations with local artists, such as the founding of the Russian-German composer quartet with Alexei Aigi and Ivan Sokolov from Moscow, Manfred Niehaus and Bonnen from Cologne.

Bonnen is director of the chamber choir Les Saxosythes.

Over 70 CD productions in different musical genres, composition commissions for various radio stations, theaters, etc.

The works of Johann Sebastian Bach , Jimi Hendrix, Pier Paolo Pasolini , Joseph Beuys and John Cage , whose pieces can be found in many of Bonnen's productions, are decisive for Bonnen's own compositional work .

Compositions (selection) all published on CD

Die Nachtwache (concert for accordion and string orchestra; Verlag Dohr )
Beijing (Soundscape from Beijing)
Muspilli (composition for choir and organ; Verlag Dohr)
Algarabia (composition for soprano and choir)
Adagio (composition for keyboard instruments; Verlag Dohr)
Quintet on a sequence of notes by Bach (composition for wind quintet; Verlag Dohr)
Gazimagusa (composition for electronics and piano)
Blau (cycle for piano; Verlag Dohr)
Solovki / Rodini / Archangelos (3 compositions in graphic notation for chamber ensemble; Verlag Dohr)
Skäuel (composition for trumpet, guitar and electronics)
Quatuor plus 2 (composition for 3 drums, organ, clarinet and guitar)
Ouroboros (composition for 3 percussion, electronics and clarinet)
imJC (composition for electronics)
Ondas (arrangements of Sephardic music) with Maria Jonas
lapis lapides (music by Hildegard von Bingen )
buchara (composition for double bass, prepared piano and viola) with Andreas Schilling
The cloud of forgetting (composition for chamber ensemble)
Before, when we were still the big rivers ... (suite for speaker and ensemble) with Peter Rühmkorf and Andreas Schilling
Ben and his friends in concert (cycle for sound sculptures) with Peter Hölscher and Andreas Schilling
Thai (ambient composition for double bass, percussion, piano and soundscape)
Ryoan-ji (composition for 5 melody instruments and percussion)
Medea (composition for 3 cellos, 3 electric guitars, 2 hihats, Gran Cassa and electronics)
Chronotopia (composition for chamber ensemble)
archet-en-ciel (composition for violoncello and electronics)
NYC Museums Cycle
Meetings with Remarkable Melodies ( Georges I. Gurdjieff Arrangements)

His work is published in parts by the Dohr publishing house .

Web links

Works by and about Dietmar Bonnen in the catalog of the German National Library
Dietmar Bonnen on the website of his music production company

personal data
SURNAME	Bonnen, Dietmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 27, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne