Summer Organ Concerts 2026 - Christian Barthen

Organ concert with Prof. Christian Barthen from Bern (CH) Christian Barthen was born in 1984 in Saarbrücken, is an organist and artistic director of music at the Bern Cathedral, a professor of organ at the University of the Arts in Bern (HKB), and an internationally renowned concert organist. During his school years, he was trained as a young student at the Hochschule für Musik Saar. After graduating from high school, he pursued extensive studies in organ, piano, and harpsichord, as well as Protestant church music and music education in Saarbrücken, Paris, and Stuttgart. Numerous awards and distinctions at prestigious organ and music competitions, including the "Johann Sebastian Bach Competition" in Wiesbaden (D), the International Organ Competition of St. Maurice d'Agaune (CH), and the world-renowned "Grand Prix de Chartres" (F), opened up an extraordinary concert career for him. Today, as one of the most established and prominent names of his generation, his engagements regularly take him to many churches, cathedrals, and concert halls across Europe, South America, Russia, and the Far East. Christian Barthen's organ repertoire includes central and essential works from all eras and styles. In 2010, he performed the Six Trio Sonatas for organ from memory. Radio and television productions have been created with various broadcasters of ARD, SRF, RTVS, and Radio France. As a recording artist for the labels Naxos Records and ifo/Organ, he has published four commercial CDs, primarily featuring works by Max Reger. Since his youth, Christian Barthen has been active as a church musician. From 2003 to 2012, he was, among other roles, the assistant to Prof. Theo Brandmüller at the Ludwigskirche in Saarbrücken. Between 2015 and 2020, he served as cantor and organist of the historic Link organ (1906) at the Evangelical City Church in Giengen an der Brenz. Since 2020, he has led the traditional church music at the Evangelical Main Church St. Anna in Augsburg. As of November 1, or the fall semester of 2022, he was appointed to succeed Prof. Dr. h.c. Daniel Glaus at the Bern Cathedral and at the University of the Arts (HKB) in Bern. His expert activities and guest lectures have taken him to seven music colleges and universities in Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, Colombia, and Finland.