Andreas Herkenrath

Andreas Herkenrath began his musical education first at the piano and in music theory with his uncle, the organist and pianist Wilhelm Herkenrath, in Siegburg. A short time later, at the age of 8, he wrote his first small pieces for the piano. Later the bassoon was added as a second instrument, which eventually became his main subject. So Andreas Herkenrath studied bassoon in Cologne, with Prof. Rainer Schottstädt, at the same time the subjects school music and mathematics, completed his instrumental studies with distinction, passed the two state examinations in music and mathematics and finally also acquired the concert examination in the bassoon in the concert hall of the university.
Andreas Herkenrath then received a teaching position and became a lecturer for bassoon at the Cologne University of Music, now the Cologne University of Music and Dance, and participated in numerous concerts and opera performances of the Gürzenich Orchestra, Cologne Philharmonic, the State Orchestra Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz and the Cologne Chamber Orchestra KKO.
Today he is active as principal bassoonist in five symphony orchestras: Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester Köln, Deutsches Radio-Kammerorchester, Frankfurter Sinfoniker, Sinfonietta Köln, and teaches his two subjects music and mathematics at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Gymnasium in Bonn, where he also conducts the large symphony orchestra.
Andreas Herkenrath is a founding member of three chamber music ensembles and, in addition to bassoon playing, is the author of numerous chamber music works, especially for voice, piano and woodwinds.
Already in 1996 three of his works shared the 1st prize of the International Siegburg Composition Competition together with works by OliverDrechsel.
His Symphony No. 1, written for large wind ensemble and double bass and premiered by the Mozart Ensemble Bonn, was the celebrated conclusion of a sold-out concert by the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra at the Cologne Flora in 2015.
Herkenrath's Symphony No. 2 and, parallel to it, a whole series of chamber music compositions are currently in progress.