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Hans-Jürgen Gerung (*1960)

1975 until 1979

Apprenticeship as a machinist

1979 to 1980

Secondary school leaving certificate - vocational college

1980 to 1982

Subject-related higher education entrance qualification - vocational secondary school

1982 to 1983

Alternativ Military service - Malteser Hilfsdienst

Hans-Jürgen Gerung studied physics from 1983 to 1984 at the University of Technology of Munich, changed in 1984 to the Leopold Mozart Conservatorium in Augsburg and studied guitar with Franz Mayr-Musiol and trumpet with Wolfgang Siegert. In 1988 followed an even longer, more intense period of study focused on the lute music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Gerung's complete edition of Bach's lute works for 10-string guitar has received great acclaim from renowned performers and from the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institute Göttingen.

In the years from 1994 to 1998 Gerung studied composition with Hans Ulrich Lehmann (Switzerland) and in 1999 he presented himself to M° Sylvano Bussotti and remained his student until 2005. Bussotti recommended him among other things to Mary de Rachewiltz for a scholarship holder of Tempo Reale di Merano at the Brunnenburg-castle of Merano. 

In the summer of 1999, Sylvano Bussotti wrote for Gerung, the piece Ermafrodito for guitar solo and gave him the exclusive performance rights for 10 years. Luca Veggetti choreographed the score in 2002 and premiered it at the Teatro Carignano in Turin together with the Balletto Teatro di Torino under Loredana Furno. At the request of Veggetti, a large part of Bussotti’s ballet-cycle Φαίδρα / HELIOGABALUS was transformed to a new version for solo-guitar in 2004 in a Gerung-Bussotti coproduction. RICORDI has approved this guitar arrangement about the ballet Phaedra-cycle and released it for a series of concerts during the international festival forum of contemporary music – oberstdorf in 2024.

Gerung worked as soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg together with Sarah Leonhard and Ian Caley under Arturo Tamayo, but also with singers like Daniel Gloger and Iris-Anna Deckert, with instrumentalists like Hidehiko Hinohara, Dmitri Dichtiar and Pavol Serbin. He worked together with choirs such as Ensemble Cantissimo under Prof. Markus Utz, with the Alsfelder Vokalensemble under Prof. Helbich, with the Schola Romana Ensemble under M° Stefano Sabene, with the Minguet String-Quartet (Düsseldorf), with the Stadler-Quartet (Salzburg) and with the Uusinta Ensemble (Helsinki). Composers like the Finnish author Harri Suilamo, the Japanese composer Mai Fukasawa, the Russian composer Boris Yoffe and the German Helmut Oehring wrote for Gerung and his own works were broadcasted by various European radio transmitters like BR, SWR, RAI, Ö2, Radio France.

Premieres of Gerungs compositions were to be heard at the Contemporanea di Udine, at the ECLAT Festival Stuttgart, the Festival Internacional de Música Clássica Contamporánea de Lima or the international Guitarfestival of Turku, Finland.

In 2000 Gerung founded the publishing house www.edition-gerung and in 2000 the Gerung-Arts&Music label, which stands for contemporary arts in composition, concert, painting and graphics.

In an effort to unify individual disciplines such as painting, graphic art, visual art, sculptural creating, architecture dance and literature in new complete works, Gerung works with artists from various disciplines, including the sculptor Alessandra Bonoli, the poet Dr Melanie Barbato the choreographer Prof. Sandra Fuciarelli, the Avantgarde danzer Rossana Abritta. Students of the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome develop new dances on Gerung’s music.

In 1996, Gerung is honoured for his artistic work by Leoluca Orlando through the award of the Medal of Honour of the City of Palermo.

Together with the municipality of Oberstdorf Gerung founded 2006 the international festival forum of contemporary music. The mediation of contemporary chamber music works to young students is the focus of this exclusive festival which takings place in March at the music school of Oberstdorf.

Since April 2022 Gerung is director of the municipal music school in Oberstdorf.

Weblinks:

www.edition-gerung.de

Gerung on Wikipedia-Onlinelexikon