Volker Bertelmann

Before he became known as an Oscar-winning composer, producer and pianist, Volker Bertelmann had long been keen to absorb countless influences and push his creative limits, experimenting at an early age already with just how different he could make the piano sound through preparations.

For the composer and pianist, the essence of his work lies in constantly challenging himself to new musical experimentation. His subject is the grand piano, which he approaches as an acoustic body. At the beginning of his solo career, he specialized in preparing the instrument with tape, felt, and other materials. He transforms clubs and concert venues into sonic laboratories, where the audience can experience the interplay between analysis and intuition. For his albums, he has repeatedly ventured into new experimental arrangements – from electronica to the purist approach of his work “A Different Forest” (2019). It is the diversity of our existence that he makes audible in his songs, be it global questions about the future on his album “What If” (2017), or the proliferation and decay of urban life on “Abandoned City” (2014).

His approach is an unconditionally interdisciplinary one. In his work with violinist Hilary Hahn, he explores the tension between classically notated and freely created music. His works for dance and theater produce a subtle dialogue between movement and sound, for example in his collaboration with the choreographer Aszure Barton and the dancer Edivaldo Ernesto. As artist-in-residence of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Bertelmann has composed pieces for large orchestras and a choir. Bertelmann is a seeker whose creative drive is perpetual trial and error, and whose audience is fascinated by this open path.

In addition, he has written numerous soundtracks for series and film. In 2016, Bertelmann joined forces with Dustin O’Halloran to score Garth Davis’s film Lion. The soundtrack was awarded an AACTA Award and nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA.

Bertelmann’s latest scores include the music for TV shows such as the Emmy- and BAFTA nominated mini-series Patrick Melrose (2018), Your Honor (2019) and for the feature films Summerland, Stowaway, and Downhill (2020). In 2022, he scored All Quiet on the Western Front for Netflix, the official Best International Feature Film Oscar-entry for Germany, and War Sailor, both of which were official selections at the Toronto International Film Festival. Since 2018, Volker Bertelmann is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.