Friederike Bernhardt

Artistic Lab

Between music and the sounds of everyday life.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Friederike Bernhardt standing deadpan in sunglasses and a long magenta trench coat, positioned directly in front of a brightly lit carnival claw machine filled with pink plush flamingos.

Photo: Monique Ulrich

A faint mechanical hum, the scrape of an object, the resonance of a room can become as important as a melody to Friederike Bernhardt, who approaches the piano with an ear for everything that surrounds it. Her playing has an unusual physicality, capable of sudden eruptions and almost weightless passages, while her electronic work opens the instrument into stranger territories of texture and noise. Theatre and film have become a major part of this musical language, with Bernhardt composing for stages as well as for film and radio.