Detlef Bensmann
Detlef Bensmann Woodwind instruments & Chamber music
Detlef Bensmann studied saxophone with Prof. Omar Lamparter and double bass with Prof. Heinz Jablonski in Berlin. After playing double bass in the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1979/80), he began his career as a saxophone soloist with a debut concert in the Berlin Philharmonic with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (DSO) and a first recording of saxophone concertos with orchestra (1980). Among Mr. Bensmann's twenty commercial recordings of major works are pieces composed by Detlef Bensmann for himself and others. He regularly performs internationally with world-class orchestras and renowned conductors such as Dmitrij Kitajenko with the Berner Symphoniker, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt (HR) and Kazushi Ono, Sian Edwards, Eiji Oue, Tetsuro Ban, David Shallon, Michael Dixon, Golo Berg, Neil Thompson, Jorge Lopez Marìn (Cuba), Olaf Koch, and others.
More than 25 concertos for saxophone and orchestra were composed specifically for Detlef Bensmann (mostly recorded), and he has premiered more than 100 compositions for chamber ensembles or solo pieces, most of which are documented on nearly 50 CDs. In 1983, Mr. Bensmann founded the Berlin Saxophone Quartet, where he performed as the ensemble's primary (solo) player until July 2007. He continued to play saxophone quartets with the "Bensmann Saxophone Quartet," which he founded in 2006 with students from his master class. In 2017, Mr. Bensmann founded the Nova Berlin Saxophone Quartet in Shenzhen, China, with Pei Yin, Lilly Paddags, and Ninoslav Dimov. In 2018, he founded the Bensmann Saxophone Quartet in Berlin with Tianhong Wu, Pai Liu, and Ninoslav Dimov.
In 1984, Mr. Bensmann began teaching at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Since 1992, he has also taught at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, and from summer 2010 to summer 2016, he taught at the HMT Rostock. Since winter 2016, he has also been teaching at the Academy of Arts Berlin, and since October 2018, he has been teaching at the Academy of Music Berlin (Kaleidos University).
Since 1987, Mr. Bensmann has also performed in concerts and recorded with pianist Michael Rische (2 CDs released). During this time, he also began collaborating with Christian Roderburg (percussion, 1 CD together). Compositions were created for both duos.
In 2004, Mr. Bensmann founded the BENSMANN TRIO with Waltraut Wächter (violin - first concertmaster of the MDR SO) and pianist Dmitrij Befeler (first commercial CD "Poèmes"). This trio still collaborates with various partners.
Over the past 20 years, Mr. Bensmann has also pursued a career as a conductor and composer. Detlef Bensmann's most important works include:
"Spirale" for alto saxophone and full orchestra (1)
"Fantasia cubana" for alto/soprano saxophone (1 player) and chamber orchestra (1)
"Hello Mr. SaxOphon" for 5 saxophones (1 player) and orchestra (for family programs) (1)
"Hot-Sonata" by Erwin Schulhoff / Detlef Bensmann (orchestration 1993 (2), 2014 (1))
"Maurische Rhapsodie" by Claude Debussy / Detlef Bensmann (reconstruction, arrangement, orchestration, with some new composition) for alto/soprano saxophone and orchestra (1)
"An American Songbook" for singer and orchestra (1)
"Dream Sequences" for violin and alto saxophone (1)
"Where the Light Crosses the String - Poem after Claude Debussy" for violin, alto saxophone, piano (1)
"Psalm and Meditation" for soprano, cello, saxophone, percussion, and organ (manuscript)
"Magical Song" for alto saxophone and organ or wind band.
1 = Ed. Ries & Erler Berlin 2 = Ed. Schott
Detlef Bensmann is officially supported by the Goethe Institute.