Bettendorf, Carl C.

Carl Christian Bettendorf is a New York-based composer and conductor. Born in Hamburg, Germany, he studied composition with Hans-Jürgen von Bose and Wolfgang Rihm in Munich and Karlsruhe before moving to New York, where he received his doctorate from Columbia University under Tristan Murail. He attended Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Summer School for Young Composers in the Orkney Islands and was a fellow at the Composers Conference (Wellesley College, Mass.) and the Centre Acanthes (Metz, France).

Bettendorf’s works have been played at major new-music festivals and venues in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. In July 1997, his first opera Escorial after Michel de Ghelderode was premiered at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. He has received numerous awards, among them a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a six-month residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris, and a Fromm Foundation commission.

Increasingly active as a conductor, he is a member of the Wet Ink Ensemble in New York and has appeared with various other new-music groups in the city, including counter)induction, the Talea Ensemble, and TACTUS. He was also artistic director and conductor of the Munich-based ensemble piano possibile and has served as assistant conductor for the Columbia University Orchestra and the American Composers Orchestra. In addition, he was the administrative director of the Manhattan Sinfonietta for four seasons. Mr. Bettendorf has recorded for Albany and Carrier Records, ArtVoice, Cybele, and Tzadik and his music was broadcast on German, Swiss, Canadian, U.S. and Australian radio.