Matthias Burkert
Matthias Burkert works with Pina Bausch from 1979. He is an important advisor on questions concerning the music in her pieces. From 1995 he works together with Andreas Eisenschneider.
Information
Since 1979 | Musical Collaborator at Tanztheater Wuppertal (since 1995 together with Andreas Eisenschneider) |
2022 | dies in Wuppertal |
Biography
Matthias Burkert
was born 1953 in Duisburg, and started piano lessons at the age of six. In 1974 he began studying piano, with trumpet and singing, at the Wuppertal campus of Cologne’s Hochschule für Musik und Tanz. Above all it was Professor Harald Bojé’s integrated approach to teaching piano which spoke to him. Matthias Burkert had a natural, uninhibited relationship to instruments; from an early age improvisation was his great passion, not just on the piano. His attitude to music was playful and experimental.
An all-round talent
He first saw a piece by Pina Bausch in 1975, in Wuppertal, her version of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Although Burkert had no affinity with ballet, the undiluted humanity of Pina Bausch’s contemporary dance language left a deep impression on him. After completing his degree, in 1978 he took up a lecturing post in piano teaching at his college. He had already become musical director of the children’s and youth theatre in Wuppertal in 1976, a position he retained till 2001. Alongside this he gave private piano lessons. Pina Bausch took him on in 1979, initially as the répétiteur for their daily training sessions. Soon, however, his role changed. Pina Bausch was in the process of redefining not only the thematic and choreographic aspects of dance but also its musical dimension and needed help researching music, with dramaturgical questions around music and with generating narrative arcs. This was still technically challenging at the time. Finding unusual music was also difficult. Burkert combed record shops in Wuppertal and beyond, contacted radio archives and private collectors. Sometimes up to four tape players were running simultaneously during performances to ensure rapid changeovers.
Trial and error
Burkert’s first collaboration with Pina Bausch was Bandoneon, in 1980. She had brought back a wealth of material from a South-American tour which needed sorting out. Where necessary Burkert also composed pieces of his own. The extensive tours and resulting coproductions changed the musical work. During research on location each time new musical horizons were opened up. The trick here was to allow the musical soul of a country to be heard without becoming folkloristic.
The dances and scenes were almost always created independently of the music, which was added later. Here, as with dance theatre generally, a persistent process of trial and error was required. Pina Bausch frequently asked Burkert to replace all the rehearsal music with completely new pieces. Some music stood the test, at other times a completely new perspective was generated.
Matthias Burkert was part of the rehearsal process from the start, collecting music, sorting it according to character and atmosphere or with particular dancers in mind. Pina Bausch repeatedly integrated him into her pieces, sometimes with musical appearances, and together with him she controlled the musical temperature of the shows as they unfolded.
In 1995 he was joined by Andreas Eisenschneider. They complement each other, an experienced team taking responsibility for the music. The pair were jointly credited for musical direction on Wim Wenders’ Film Pina.
Matthias Burkert dies in Wuppertal on 27 October 2022.
Text by Norbert Servos
Translated by Steph Morris
Gallery
Piece creation
Season 1980/81 | Bandoneon Musical collaboration |
Season 1981/82 | Walzer Assistant |
Season 1982/83 | Nelken (Carnations) Collaboration |
Season 1983/84 | Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) Musical collaboration |
Season 1984/85 | Two Cigarettes in the Dark Collaboration |
Season 1985/86 | Viktor Collaboration |
Season 1986/87 | Ahnen Musical collaboration |
Season 1989/90 | Palermo Palermo Musical collaboration |
Season 1990/91 | Tanzabend II Musical collaboration |
Season 1992/93 | Das Stück mit dem Schiff (The Piece with the Ship) Musical collaboration |
Season 1993/94 | Ein Trauerspiel Musical collaboration |
Season 1994/95 | Danzón Musical collaboration |
Season 1996/97 | Der Fensterputzer (The Window Washer) Musical collaboration |
Season 1997/98 | Masurca Fogo Musical collaboration |
Season 1998/99 | O Dido Musical collaboration |
Season 1999/2000 | Wiesenland Musical collaboration |
Season 2000/01 | Água Musical collaboration |
Season 2001/02 | For the Children of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Musical collaboration |
Season 2002/03 | Nefés Musical collaboration |
Season 2004/05 | Rough Cut Musical collaboration |
Season 2005/06 | Vollmond (Full Moon) Musical collaboration |
Season 2006/07 | Bamboo Blues Musical collaboration |
Season 2007/08 | 'Sweet Mambo' Musical collaboration |
Season 2008/09 | "... como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si ..." (Like Moss on the Stone) Musical collaboration |
Premieres
Piece | Keuschheitslegende (Legend of Chastity) |
Date | 13 December 1979 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Dance | Anne Marie Benati |
Anne Martin | |
Arthur Rosenfeld | |
Beatrice Libonati | |
Christian Trouillas | |
Dominique Mercy | |
Ed Kortlandt | |
Heide Tegeder | |
Héléna Pikon | |
Jan Minařík | |
Janusz Subicz | |
Jean Laurent Sasportes | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Lutz Förster | |
Malou Airaudo | |
Meryl Tankard | |
Nazareth Panadero | |
Urs Kaufmann | |
Vivienne Newport | |
Actor | Hans Dieter Knebel |
Mechthild Großmann | |
Musician | Matthias Burkert |
Extra | Frank Herfeld |
Frank Nettesheim | |
Jürgen Koch | |
Klaus Kostka | |
Roman Rohde | |
Ulrich Huppach | |
Werner Simon | |
Wolfgang Weiß | |
Stagehand | Paul Aron |
Lighting | Hans-Joachim Deinert |
Make-up | Heinz Dildey |
Sound | Horst Kersten |
Klaus Grimm | |
Ballet master | Dominique Mercy |
Jean Cébron | |
Technical direction | Rolf Bachmann |
Leitung Kostüm | Renate Eichberg |
Workshop management | Leo Haase |
Assistant | Hans Dieter Knebel |
Stage manager | Herbert Görsch |
Props | Günther Fränzel |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “Keuschheitslegende (Legend of Chastity)” by Pina Bausch in in Wuppertal, Dec. 13, 1979 |
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Piece | 1980 – A Piece by Pina Bausch |
Date | 18 May 1980 |
Venue | Schauspielhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Set design assistant | Gerda Raichle |
Dance | Anne Marie Benati |
Anne Martin | |
Arthur Rosenfeld | |
Beatrice Libonati | |
Ed Kortlandt | |
Hans Dieter Knebel | |
Heide Tegeder | |
Isabel Ribas Serra | |
Jan Minařík | |
Janusz Subicz | |
Jean Laurent Sasportes | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Lutz Förster | |
Malou Airaudo | |
Mechthild Großmann | |
Meryl Tankard | |
Nazareth Panadero | |
Vivienne Newport | |
Musician | Arthur Sockel |
Matthias Burkert | |
Special performer | Hans Günter Witt |
Stagehand | Heinz Czyganowski |
Lighting | Siegfried Schuchmann |
Make-up | Heinz Dildey |
Sound | Helmut Schoth |
Ballet master | Dominique Mercy |
Jean Cébron | |
Technical direction | Rolf Bachmann |
Leitung Kostüm | Renate Eichberg |
Workshop management | Leo Haase |
Stage manager | Peter Lütke |
Props | Gerd Klann |
Sportler:in | Max Walther |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “1980 – A Piece by Pina Bausch” by Pina Bausch with Tanztheater Wuppertal in in Wuppertal, May 18, 1980 |
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Piece | Walzer |
Date | 17 June 1982 |
Venue | Koninklijk Theater Carré Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands |
Costume assistant | Bernd Bremer |
Rosemarie Hess | |
Dance | Anne Marie Benati |
Arthur Rosenfeld | |
Beatrice Libonati | |
Bénédicte Billiet | |
Christian Trouillas | |
Ed Kortlandt | |
Francis Viet | |
Hans Pop | |
Héléna Pikon | |
Jakob Haahr Andersen | |
Jan Minařík | |
Janusz Subicz | |
Jean Laurent Sasportes | |
Josephine Ann Endicott | |
Malou Airaudo | |
Meryl Tankard | |
Monika Sagon | |
Nazareth Panadero | |
Urs Kaufmann | |
Vitus Zeplichal | |
Actor | Mechthild Großmann |
Musician | Matthias Burkert |
Stagehand | Heinz Czyganowski |
Lighting | Hans-Joachim Deinert |
Sound | Hartmut Millard |
Helmut Schoth | |
Ballet master | Dominique Mercy |
Jean Cébron | |
Stage manager | Peter Lütke |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “Walzer” by Pina Bausch in in Amsterdam, 06/17/1982 – 06/20/1982 |
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Piece | Nelken (Carnations) |
Date | 30 December 1982 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) |
Date | 13 May 1984 |
Venue | Schauspielhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Ahnen |
Date | 21 March 1987 |
Venue | Schauspielhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Palermo Palermo |
Date | 17 December 1989 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
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Piece | Das Stück mit dem Schiff (The Piece with the Ship) |
Date | 16 January 1993 |
Venue | Opernhaus Wuppertal Wuppertal Germany |
Set design assistant | Helga Schnüttgen |
Dance | Aida Vainieri |
Barbara Kaufmann | |
Beatrice Libonati | |
Bernd Uwe Marszan | |
Dominique Mercy | |
Felix Ruckert | |
Francis Viet | |
Geraldo Si Loureiro | |
Hans Beenhakker | |
Héléna Pikon | |
Jakob Haahr Andersen | |
Jan Minařík | |
Janusz Subicz | |
Jean Laurent Sasportes | |
Julie Anne Stanzak | |
Julie Shanahan | |
Marigia Maggipinto | |
Mariko Aoyama | |
Nazareth Panadero | |
Quincella Swyningan | |
Ruth Amarante | |
Thomas Duchatelet | |
Musician | Matthias Burkert |
Lighting | Klaus Weiz |
Make-up | Frank Pohler |
Sound | Frank Strätker |
Klaus Grimm | |
Management | Matthias Schmiegelt |
Organizational staff | Claudia Irman |
Ballet master | Agnes Pallai |
Brian Bertscher | |
Christine Kono-Pohlmann | |
Technical direction | Dieter Simon |
Klaus Weiz | |
Manfred Marczewski | |
Leitung Bühnentechnik | Manfred Marczewski |
Peter Ernestus | |
Lighting direction | Siegfried Schuchmann |
Leitung Kostüm | Evelyn Schönwald |
Leitung Requisite | Herbert Kuhn |
Workshop management | Leo Haase |
Stage manager | Jürgen Schneidenbach |
Cloakroom | Andreas Maier |
Harald Boll | |
Rosemarie Hess | |
Source of cast | Evening leaflet for “Das Stück mit dem Schiff (The Piece with the Ship)” by Pina Bausch in in Wuppertal, Jan. 16, 1993 |
Discover photos, videos and more in the archives | Browse the archives |