Volker Bertelmann
Bertelmann in 2025
Background information
Born	Volker Bertelmann (1966-10-11)11 October 1966 (age 59) Kreuztal,West Germany
Origin	Düsseldorf, Germany
Genres	classical rock ·electronic rock ·avant-garde ·experimental rock ·minimalism ·rap rock (early)
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instrument(s)	Piano,prepared piano
Years active	1992–present
Labels	City Slang Temporary Residence Limited Sony Classical
Formerly of	God’s Favorite Dog
Website	hauschka-net.de

Volker Bertelmann (born 11 October 1966)^[1] is a German composer, pianist and former rapper who mainly performs and records under the nameHauschka. He is best known for his compositions forprepared piano.^[2][3] He won anAcademy Award and aBAFTA Award forhis score forAll Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

Bertelmann was born inKreuztal, Germany. He grew up in the village of Ferndorf in the district ofSiegen-Wittgenstein,North Rhine-Westphalia. The fifth of six children, he discovered piano playing at the age of eight at church service. He began studying classical piano and continued taking lessons for the next ten years.^[4]

Bertelmann formed his first rock band when he was fourteen. During the following years he was commissioned to compose music for television and sang in a number of other bands. After leaving school he moved toCologne, where he began studying medicine and then switched to a course in business economics, but gave up both in order to concentrate on music.^[4]

In 1992, Bertelmann and his cousin formed the hip-hop duo God's Favorite Dog, who became known above all for their tracksLove and Pain andSway. They released an album on Sony Music's Epic label and went on to perform nationally and internationally, among others as a support act forDie Fantastischen Vier. The duo split in 1995 to pursue other directions.^[5]

After a period of drifting, Bertelmann moved toDüsseldorf and started making music again, drawing on his years of classical piano training. He composed pieces for piano and released them under the alias Hauschka; he wanted to use an Eastern European-sounding pseudonym and found Bohemian composerVincenz Hauschka as a reference.^[6]

The first album under the name Hauschka,Substantial, was released in 2004 on the Cologne labelKaraoke Kalk, followed in 2005 byThe Prepared Piano on the same label. On this second album Bertelmann explored the possibilities of theprepared piano by wedging pieces of leather, felt or rubber between the piano strings, wrapping aluminium foil around the hammers, placing small objects on the strings or joining them together with guitar strings or adhesive tape.^[7]

In 2007 Bertelmann signed a recording contract with 130701, an imprint ofFatCat Records, through which his albumFerndorf was released in 2008.^[8]

Following a concert performance with theMagik*Magik Orchestra, Bertelmann decided to integrate other musical instruments into his compositions, and in January 2010 the resulting works were performed inSan Francisco by an orchestra led byMinna Choi. With Ian Pellicci as the sound engineer, they were recorded inJohn Vanderslice'sTiny Telephone Studios. Volker Bertelmann then recorded the piano tracks at Studio Zwei in Düsseldorf, and the albumForeign Landscapes was released on the 130701 label later that year.^[9][10]

On his 2011 albumSalon des Amateurs Bertelmann collaborated with notable musicians such as Samuli Kosminen (Múm,Edea), Jeffrey Zeigler (exKronos Quartet), Pekka Kusisto, The band Múm, Nik Bartsch, Henrik Schwarz andHilary Hahn, as well asCalexico'sJoey Burns andJohn Convertino. These recordings were originally intended as a joint release withForeign Landscapes, whereby on the one hand the piano was going to be just one instrument among many, and on the other it was to be used primarily as a rhythm instrument.^[11] The recorded pieces did not fit together in the way Bertelmann had envisaged, however, so he decided to release the two albums separately.Foreign Landscapes represents a shift of focus away from the prepared piano as a solo instrument, whileSalon des Amateurs signals a move towards a more strongly rhythmic approach.^[12]

The release ofSalon des Amateurs was followed by the release of remix albumSalon des Amateurs Remixes, which featured notable contributions byMichael Mayer,Matthew Herbert, Max Loderbauer &Ricardo Villalobos,Alva Noto and Steve Bicknell.

In May 2012Silfra, a collaborative album with the American violinist Hilary Hahn, was released onDeutsche Grammophon. Named after theSilfra rift inIceland, it consists of twelve improvisations by Bertelmann and Hahn that were recorded byValgeir Sigurdsson at Greenhouse Studios inReykjavík.^[13]

In 2012 Bertelmann wrote his first score for a feature film, entitledGlück, which was directed byDoris Dörrie.^[14]

In 2015, Bertelmann was an artist-in-residence at theMDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. He created three pieces for them, most notably his collaboration with Múm entitled "Drowning", which they premiered at theGewandhaus in Leipzig on 27 June 2015.^[15] In 2016, he was commissioned to create a piece for acclaimed cellistNicholas Altstädt. The piece, "Lost", premiered at Viva Cello in September 2016.^[16]

In 2016, Bertelmann collaborated withDustin O'Halloran on the score for the Oscar-nominated filmLion.^[17] The score of the film was nominated for all major awards including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Critics' Choice Awards.

In 2017, he released solo albumWhat If on City Slang and Temporary Residence. The album explores the possibilities of his music, inspired by hip-hop, performed by fast and accurate player pianos. Bertelmann wrote two pieces forAvi Avital, called Flood and Drought, which premiered at theSchleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in July 2017.^[4]

In 2018, he composed the score for the filmAdrift, which is based on the true story of a sailor stranded at sea after a storm.Adrift is directed byBaltasar Kormákur and starsShailene Woodley andSam Claflin. Bertelmann stated, "Collaborating with Baltasar Kormákur was a wonderful experience and he gave me a lot of freedom to find the right sound for the film.Adrift tells a story about love and the fragility of human existence, so I wanted to create some sort of instrumental tension to reflect both the darkness and peril, as well as the lightness and love in this film. We ended up recording a full string orchestra at British Grove in London and added piano and experimental electronics to create a diverse and dynamic score. I'm very happy with the result, and I feel fortunate to have been part of this powerful film."^[18]

In 2019, he created the Hauschka Composer Toolkit sample library withSpitfire Audio, featuring many of his signature sounds.

2020 had him doing Netflix's blockbuster movie of the summer,The Old Guard starringCharlize Theron, as well asSummerland with Gemma Arterton, Francis Lee's romantic dramaAmmonite, and the sci-fi movieStowaway starringAnna Kendrick andToni Collette.

In 2022, he scoredAll Quiet on the Western Front for Netflix, the official Best International Feature Film Oscar-entry for Germany, andWar Sailor, both of which were official selections at the Toronto International Film Festival. For his work on the former, he won theAcademy Award for Best Original Score and theBAFTA Award for Best Original Music.

He has presentedTiny Desk Concerts twice, in 2010 and 2024.

• Substantial (2004)
• The prepared piano (2005)
• What a day (EP 2006)
• Room to Expand (2007)
• Versions of the Prepared Piano (2007)
• Ferndorf (2008)
• Snowflakes and Carwrecks (2008)
• Small Pieces (2009)
• Foreign Landscapes (2010)
• Salon Des Amateurs (2011)
• Salon Des Amateurs Remixes (2012)
• Youyoume (EP 2011)
• Pan Tone (EP 2011) withHildur Guðnadóttir
• Silfra (2012) withHilary Hahn
• Abandoned City (2014)
• 5 Movements (EP 2016) withDustin O'Halloran
• A NDO C Y (2015)
• What If(2017)
• A Different Forest (2019)
• Upstream (2021)
• Philanthropy (2023)^[19][20]

• The Boy (2015,Milan Records)
• Lion (2016,Sony Music)
• In Dubious Battle (2017,Lakeshore Records)
• Gunpowder (2017,Sony Music)
• 1000 Arten Regen Zu Beschreiben (2018, Needlewood Records)
• Adrift (2018,Sony Classical)
• Hotel Mumbai (2019,Varèse Sarabande)
• The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019,Fox Music)
• Dublin Murders (2020, Needlewood Records)
• Summerland (2020, Needlewood Records)
• The Old Guard (2020,Milan Records)
• Schnee von gestern (2020, Needlewood Records)
• Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl (2020, Needlewood Records)
• Downhill (2020,Fox Music)
• A Christmas Carol (2020,Hollywood Records)
• Ammonite (2020,Milan Records)
• Stowaway (2021, Lakeshore Records)
• Barbarians (Season 2) (2022, Netflix Music, LLC)
• War Sailor (2022, Lakeshore Records)
• Living with the Unknown (2022, Edition Needlewood/Bosworth Music GmbH, Emergence Magazine)^[21]
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022, Netflix Music, LLC)
• Conclave (2024,Back Lot Music)
• Dune: Prophecy (2024, Milan Records)

• List of German Academy Award winners and nominees

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHauschka.

• www.hauschka-net.de
• Volker Bertelmann atAllMusicVolker Bertelmann onBandcamp10741748-dec7-4210-ada9-41e32b9e2c07 Volker Bertelmann discography atMusicBrainz
• Volker Bertelmann discography atDiscogs
• Volker Bertelmann atIMDb
• 2010 NPR interview with Hauschka
• March 2014 NPR interview with Hauschka

• 1966 births
• Living people
• Best Original Music BAFTA Award winners
• German pianists
• German composers
• German film score composers
• 21st-century German pianists
• Temporary Residence Limited artists
• FatCat Records artists
• City Slang artists
• Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
• Sony Classical Records artists
• Best Original Music Score AACTA Award winners

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from July 2023
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• MusicBrainz artist different from Wikidata
• Articles with MusicBrainz artist links