Florian Bergmann

Florian Bergmann (born in 1984 in Berlin) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer. He is artistically at home in a broad spectrum of contemporary music, ranging from new music and contemporary music theatre to experimental jazz and improvised music. He studied at the Hanns Eisler School of Music and the Berlin University of the Arts from 2004 to 2009.

The focus of his work is on the composition of instrumental chamber music, in which he combines his passion for the exploration of unusual sounds and sound combinations with a deep understanding of the rhythmic flexibility and complexity of jazz and a penchant for the theatrical staging of music. Many of his works contain innovative preparations of instruments, use everyday objects as sound generators, or introduce non-instrumental sounds into the musical discourse through electro-acoustic means.

He has composed works for his Trio Transmitter (with Benedikt Bindewald and Alba Gentili-Tedeschi), the saxophone quartet Fo[u]r Alto, the Kreuzberg Clarinet Collective, the Circuit Training Ensemble, the Ensemble 5of6, the No Input Ensemble Paris, the percussionist Sabrina Ma, for various jazz formations and many others. 

He has also written music for numerous music theatre pieces, including "Bubbles" (Theater o.N. Berlin, 2022), "Music Adventure Game" (online release, 2022), "Stadt der Arbeit” (Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, 2021), "Dunkel ist die Nacht, Rigoletto!" (Bielefelder Philharmoniker, 2020), "Klangquadrat" (Theater o.N. Berlin, 2017), "Perspectives" (Ballhaus Ost, 2012), "The Wood Project" (Pumpenhaus Münster, 2011). 

Bergmann has received composition grants from the Musikfonds (2022 and 2023), the Berliner Kultursenat (2021), and the Deutsche Orchesterstiftung (2021). His projects have been funded by the Capital Cultural Fund, the Musikfonds, the initiative neue musik berlin, and the Berlin Senate of Culture. 

As a (bass) clarinetist and saxophonist, he has performed at the Acht Brücken Festival Cologne, Festival D'Automne à Paris, Grec Festival Barcelona, Munich Biennale, Musiktheatertage Wien, Glatt&Verkehrt Krems, Multiphonic Festival Cologne, Unerhörte Musik & Kontraklang Berlin, Philharmonie & Konzerthaus Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berliner Ensemble & Deutsches Theater, Nationaltheater Weimar, Neuköllner Oper and throughout Europe, the USA, Brazil, Taiwan and Singapore. In 2011, he was awarded the Hanns Eisler Prize for contemporary interpretation.

His works have been published by Universal Edition since 2024 and recordings have been released on NEOS Music, Transmitter Music, and Umlaut Records.