Johannes Barthelmes

Johannes Barthelmes (* 1953 in Speyer ) is a German jazz musician (saxophone, flute) and photographer.

Barthelmes studied music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, majoring in (tenor) saxophone (classical and jazz). During his studies he founded the Serene quartet with pianist Michael “Bardo” Henning in 1980 , which later operated from Berlin . The ten-year-old quartet recorded some records - among others together with the trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson -, won jazz prizes and still ran the risk of reproducing themselves without new artistic income. In 1985, Barthelmes and Henning founded the Experimenti Berlin Orchestra, a large formation dedicated to the workshop character.

Barthelmes has led his own bands since the early 1990s and regularly played in a duo with the pianist Uli Lenz , with whom he recorded the CDs “Concert of the Lost Sons” and “Trane's Tree”. He also played with Henning at the 1997 JazzFest Berlin . Barthelmes also recorded with Nigel Hitchcock , Charles Tolliver , Vladimir Tarasov , Vitold Rek , Günter Lenz , Idris Muhammad , Ronnie Burrage, and Cindy Blackman .

"Johannes Barthelmes plays a really great tenor, he has a great, powerful tone, a rousing presentation, he has fire, technology, ideas ..." ( Volker Kriegel 1997) Barthelmes was awarded the SWF Jazz Prize in 1989 and Trane's Tree for his productions and For Her with the prize of the German record critics (1994, 1998) excellent.

In 1998, after a tour of Southeast Asia, he decided to take more photos. In June 1999 Barthelmes received an invitation from the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur . The collective exhibition under the title German Art of the 90's , in which 30 portraits of him are presented, is being extended due to its great success. Barthelmes was then able to realize a solo exhibition in the winter of 1999/2000 in the Space 2324 Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur under the title "Faces". He also took part in the photo exhibition Carnival of Cultures - DOC.'99 in Berlin. His photographs are published in Spiegel , Tagesspiegel Berlin and Jazz Podium , among others . In recent years he has increasingly switched to erotic photography, which has also been successful in solo exhibitions. In 2002 a large exhibition of the photographer's work at the Kunstverein Speyer (nudes, portraits and landscapes) followed.

Barthelmes has lived in Berlin-Kreuzberg for many years .

Web links

• Works by and about Johannes Barthelmes in the catalog of the German National Library
• Johannes Barthelmes at Discogs (English)
• Homepage as a photographer