Dietmar Bonnen (born 27 July 1958 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

composer and pianist.

Life

Dietmar Bonnen studied music and fine arts in Cologne and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

. In 1981 he founded the avantgarde-rock ensemble Fleisch, with whom he recorded several CDs with his own compositions. After two years of production he published a CD called “Bonnen spielt …” with organ music of the 20th century. This production was the first, which combined different organs and acoustics from different churches made possible by recording techniques taken from pop music. Beside works of

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

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 ' ...

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed ...

and

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as a professor a ...

, he also played compositions written especially for this project and that cannot be performed on conventional organs. It contains premieres of two works of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...

; “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. Later, Bonnen produced several CDs in several different musical genres, as for example the soundscape-composition “Bonnen in Beijing”, recorded 1993/94 for WDR in Beijing and Cologne. Other works present music of other composers in new arrangements. Examples are CDs with music of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

, Hildegard von Bingen,

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

and

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is consider ...

. Concerts in Europe, Asia, South America and especially Russia led to intensive collaborations with foreign artists and to the foundation of the “Russian-German Composers Quartet” with Alexei Aigui and Ivan Glebovich Sokolov from Moscow, Manfred Niehaus and Dietmar Bonnen from Cologne. Bonnen is the director of the

chamber choir A chamber choir is a small or medium-sized choir of roughly 8 to 40 singers (occasionally called 'chamber singers'), typically singing classical or religious music in a concert setting. (This is distinct from e.g. a church choir, which sings in rel ...

Les Saxosythes. He has more than 70 CD productions in different musical genres, composition commissions for different broadcasting companies and theatres to his name. Important for his own composing are the works of

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 ...

, Jimi Hendrix,

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

and John Cage, whose pieces can be found in many of Bonnen's productions.

Compositions (selection)

Die Nachtwache (concert for accordion and string orchestra)

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

(Peking-soundscape)

Muspilli ''Muspilli'' is an Old High German poem known in incomplete form (103 lines) from a ninth-century Bavarian manuscript. Its subject is the fate of the soul immediately after death and at the Last Judgment. Many aspects of the interpretation of the ...

(composition for choir and organ) Algarabia (composition for soprano and choir)

Adagio Adagio (Italian for 'slowly', ) may refer to: Music * Adagio, a tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner * Adagio (band), a French progressive metal band Albums * ''Adag ...

(composition for keyboards) Gazimagusa (composition for electronics and piano) Knäuel (composition for trumpet, guitar and electronics) Quatuor plus 2 (composition for 3 drums, organ, clarinet and guitar) Die Wolke des Vergessens (composition for ensemble)

Ouroboros The ouroboros or uroboros () is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. It was adopted as a symbol in Gnost ...

(composition for three drums, electronics and clarinet) i.m.J.C. (composition for electronics) Blau (cycle for piano) Früher, als wir die großen Ströme noch … (suite for speaker and ensemble) with

Peter Rühmkorf Peter Rühmkorf (25 October 1929 – 8 June 2008) was a German writer who significantly influenced German post-war literature. Rühmkorf's literary career started in 1952 in Hamburg with the magazine ''Zwischen den Kriegen'' ("Between the Wars") ...

and Andreas Schilling Archangelos, Rodini, Solovki (graphic compositions) Ben und seine Freunde im Konzert (cycle for sound sculptures) with Peter Hölscher and Andreas Schilling

bukhara Bukhara ( Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and the city ...

(composition for doublebass, prepared piano and viola) with Andreas Schilling Thai (ambient composition for double bass, percussion, piano and soundscape) Ryoan-ji (composition for five melody instruments and percussion)

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jaso ...

(composition for three violoncelli, three electric guitars, percussion and electronics) Chronotopia (composition for ensemble) archet-en-ciel (composition for violoncello and electronics) axis (composition for electronics and strings) with Arkady Marto

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Museums Cycle Music I Forgot To Compose Meetings With Remarkable Melodies (arrangements of music by

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...

) Sphera with Arkady Marto

References

External links

Obst-music.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnen, Dietmar 1958 births Living people German composers