Julius Berger (born 1954) is a German cellist, musicologist and an academic of chamber music and cello at the Leopold Mozart Centre of the

Augsburg University Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...

. He recorded the sonatas and concertos by

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major Europea ...

, but also contemporary music by John Cage,

Toshio Hosokawa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio ''Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima'' ...

Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky (born 30 June 1953) is a Romanian-born German music educator, composer and pianist who has been living in Germany since 1976. Biography Hölszky was born in Bucharest. In the years 1959-1969 she studied piano with Olga Rosca-Be ...

and Sofia Gubaidulina. He is the artistic director of music festivals.

Career

Born in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

, Berger studied at the Musikhochschule München with Walter Reichardt and Fritz Kiskalt, then at the

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

with Antonio Janigro, before becoming his assistant from 1979 to 1982. He studied further at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

with Zara Nelsova, and in a master class of Mstislav Rostropovich. He was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule Würzburg at age 28, as one of Germany's youngest professors at the time. From 1992, he has held a class at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg. Berger is focused on the rediscovery of the complete works by

and

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) in ...

. He recorded all cello concertos by Boccherini in 1992, including a twelfth concerto which was then recently rediscovered, on Boccherini's own

Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...

instrument. Berger is interested in the oldest music written for cello by Pietro degli Antonii and

Domenico Gabrielli Domenico Gabrielli (15 April 1651 or 19 October 1659 – 10 July 1690) was an Italian Baroque composer and one of the earliest known virtuoso cello players, as well as a pioneer of cello music writing. Born in Bologna, he worked in the orchestra of ...

. He has also played and recorded chamber music by

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers ...

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a prominent staple of the standard ...

, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann and Edward Elgar to international recognition. In the field of contemporary music, Berger recorded works by John Cage,

and Sofia Gubaidulina. He is the artistic director of the festivals and Asiago Festival in Italy. He authored ''Irritationskraft'' in the Hindemith-Jahrbuch 1992, ''Einheit in der Vielfalt - Vielfalt in der Einheit'' in the research magazine of the Mainz University in 1998, and ''Zeit und Ewigkeit'' for Cardinal

Karl Lehmann Karl Lehmann (16 May 1936 – 11 March 2018) was a German Cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016, being elevated to Cardinal in 2001. He also served as Chairman of the Conference of the Ge ...

in 2001, among others. Berger has taught at the Musikhochschule Augsburg from 2000, serving as the deputy director of its Leopold Mozart Centre from 2010. He plays a cello built by Andrea Amati in 1566.

Recordings

* ''Inspired by BACH'' (with Oliver Kern), works by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, , Johannes Brahms,

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

and Max Reger * ''Inspired by MOZART'' (with

Margarita Höhenrieder Margarita Höhenrieder (born 1956) is a German classical pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. She has performed internationally and recorded, with a focus on chamber music. She premiered compositions which H ...

). Variations from ''

Die Zauberflöte ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...

'', ''Große Sonate für Violoncello und Klavier E-Dur op. 19, Sonate für Violoncello und Klavier Nr. 3 A-Dur op. 69'' * Luigi Boccherini: Cello Sonatas, vol. 1, 2 and 3'' * ''The Unknown Beethoven: Works for Violoncello and Piano'' (2011) *

Giuseppe Tartini Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in the Republic of Venice. Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred of pieces for the violin with the majority of ...

: ''Cellokonzert in A-Dur und D-Dur, Sinfonia pastorale, Sinfonie D-Dur.'' (with Süddeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim)Tartini, Giuseppe / Cellokonzerte und Sinfonien
dasorchester.de, October 2005

References

External links

* *
Julius Berger
at

discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Prof. Julius Berger / Professur für Kammermusik und Violoncello; Interdisziplinäres Forum für künstlerische Interpretation
Augsburg University

Bach Cantatas Website *

Bernard Holland Bernard Holland (born 1933) is an American music critic. He served on the staff of '' The New York Times'' from 1981 until 2008 and held the post of chief music critic from 1995, contributing 4,575 articles to the newspaper. He then became the Nat ...

Music: Debuts in Review; Julius Berger, a Cellist, Presents Kodaly, Debussy
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' 1981 {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Julius German classical cellists Musicians from Augsburg 1954 births Living people