Bernhard Kontarsky (born 26 April 1937 in

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geography Iserlohn is locat ...

) is a German conductor,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, and teacher. Kontarsky studied at the

Hochschule für Musik Köln ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

. In 1964 he began his conducting career as Kapellmeister at the

Staatstheater Stuttgart The Staatstheater Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Theatre) is a theatre with three locations, Oper Stuttgart (Opera Stuttgart), Stuttgarter Ballett (Stuttgart Ballet), and Schauspiel Stuttgart (Stuttgart Drama Theatre), in Stuttgart, Germany. The s ...

. From 1981 Kontarsky has been Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (german: Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, italic=no, link=no, HfMDK) is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its k ...

. Kontarsky is well regarded as a specialist in

new music New music may refer to: Musical styles and movements Pre-20th century * Ars nova, musical style in 14th-century France and the Low Countries * '' Le nuove musiche'', collection of monody by Giulio Caccini * New German School, music style in late 1 ...

. Amongst other things, he conducted the world premieres of ''El Rey de Harlem'' by

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

(1982), ''Die Erschöpfung der Welt'' by

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

(1980), ''Don Quijote de la Mancha'' by

Hans Zender Johannes Wolfgang Zender (22 November 1936 – 22 October 2019) was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festival ...

(1993), ''Sansibar'' by

Eckehard Mayer Eckehard Mayer (born 1946) is a German composer.Eckhard RoelckeSchwetzingen: "Sansibar" von Eckehard Mayer: Oper, fernsehtauglich'' Die Zeit'' 22 April 1994, retrieved 13 May 2019 Career Born in Hainsberg, Mayer was a member of the Dresdner K ...

(13 April 1994), as well as the first German performance of the opera ''Die Wände'' by Adriana Hölszky, at the

Frankfurt Opera The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

, on 30 January 2000. In 1988 he directed a well-regarded production in Stuttgart of the opera ''

Die Soldaten ' (''The Soldiers'') is a four-act opera in German by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, based on the 1776 play by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. In a letter accompanying his newly printed play (23 July 1776, aged 24) that he sent to his best friend, the Germ ...

'' by

Bernd Alois Zimmermann Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...

, a work he was previously involved with as co-repetiteur for the world premiere in 1965. This led to the second commercial recording of the work, released on CD in 1991. He also conducted the French premiere of ''Die Soldaten'' in April 1994 at the Opéra-Bastille. He is also the conductor on the first CD recording of

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

's opera ''

Intolleranza 1960 ''Intolleranza 1960'' (''Intolerance 1960'') is a one-act opera in two parts (''azione scenica in due tempi'') by Luigi Nono, and is dedicated to his father-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg. The Italian libretto was written by Nono from an idea by Angelo ...

''. Kontarsky is the younger brother of the duo pianists

Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputatio ...

, with whom he has occasionally appeared in a triple-piano ensemble.

References

Footnotes

External links

Short biography

IACC 2007–2008 season, Bernhard Kontarsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kontarsky, Bernhard German classical pianists Male classical pianists German male conductors (music) 1937 births Living people Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century German male musicians