Bernhard Kontarsky

Bernhard Kontarsky ( born April 26, 1937 in Iserlohn ) is a German conductor, pianist and university professor.

Bernhard Kontarsky studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. From 1964, he began his career as a conductor as Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. In 1965 he received the Prize of North Rhine- Westphalia for music. In 1981 was Kontarsky professor of piano and director of the Studio for New Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main.

Kontarsky is a renowned specialist in new music. He has conducted, among others the world premieres of El Rey de Harlem by Hans Werner Henze (1982) The depletion of the world by Mauricio Kagel, Don Quixote de la Mancha by Hans Zender (1993 ), Zanzibar Eckehard Mayer ( 1994) and the German premiere of the opera The walls Adriana Hölszky ( 2000). In 1991 he presented a highly acclaimed CD recording of the opera Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, a work at its premiere in 1965, he was involved as a coach.

Kontarsky is the younger brother of the pianist Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, with whom he occasionally also concerted.