Bernd Stegmann
Biography Bernd Stegmann
Bernd Stegmann
studied in Detmold and Berlin. His teachers included Martin Behrmann, Helmut Barbe, Heinz Werner Zimmermann, and Ernst Pepping. In 1975, he passed the A-exam at the Berlin Church Music School. He continued his studies in orchestral conducting in Vienna and with Sergiu Celibidache. From 1977 to 1985, Stegmann was organist and cantor at the Pauluskirche in Berlin-Zehlendorf and artistic director of the Berlin Bach Society. In 1986, he became professor of choral and orchestral conducting at the Heidelberg School of Church Music. From 2006 to 2018, he also served as its rector.
He conducts the Badischer Kammerchor, the Berliner Vokalensemble, the Heidelberger Kantorei, and collaborates with renowned orchestras and instrumental ensembles such as the "Concerto Armonico" (Budapest), the "Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie," the "Concerto Palatino" (Bologna), and "Musica Fiata" (Cologne).
Several contemporary works, some of which are dedicated to him or his choirs, have been premiered. CDs, such as the Mörike Choral Songbook, Op. 19 (Musicaphon M 51820), Hugo Distler's Sacred Choral Music, Op. 12 (Cantate C 57007), Arnold Mendelssohn's Sacred Choral Music, Op. 90 (Cantate C 58005), German Folk Songs (Musicaphon M 56816), and Helmut Barbe's "Thoughts About Time" (Cantate C 58014), as well as Ernst Pepping's Missa "Dona nobis pacem" and other motets (Cantate C 58027), have received considerable acclaim.
Recently, Bernd Stegmann has also become known as a composer and arranger. His "Songs with Words" based on Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (Carus) and his "Spiritual Songs" based on piano works by Robert Schumann (Strube) are now performed and appreciated by numerous choirs.
