Ernst Bechert

Ernst Bechert (born in Würzburg) studied composition at the Musikhochschule Hamburg with Ulrich Leyendecker and in Italy with Luciano Berio, as well as mathematics and music education.
He has received numerous commissions: from the German Symphony Orchestra (DSO) Berlin, Scharoun-Ensemble, NDR, WDR, Radio Bremen, the Kulturzentrum Kampnagel Hamburg, the A*DEvantgarde-Festival Munich and others. He has worked with musicians such as Heiner Goebbels, Marc Ribot, Christian Wolff, Riccardo Chailly and Arturo Tamayo.
Besides orchestral works and chamber music, he wrote many works for musical theatre (among others „Der Schmutz, premiered at the Munich Biennale for Musical Theatre).
He composed music for films and about 90 theatres in Germany and other European countries. He received several composition prizes: among others the project promotion prize of the RSO Berlin 1984, the prize of the GEMA Foundation for Orchestral Composition 1985, the prize of the International Rostrum of Composers Paris 1985, the Villa Massimo scholarship in Rome 1993, the Junge Ohren award 2007. He taught composition at the Music Academy of Mannheim until 2006.
As a pianist and trombonist he plays in various ensembles, including Micro Opera Munich, the Hamburg brass band Tuten & Blasen and Komponistenverschwörung [„Composers Conspiracy]. Since 2015 he is one of the heads of klub katarakt Festival for Experimental Music in Hamburg. He is also committed in musical projects in Africa like the Children‘s Symphony Orchestra of Brazzaville.