Adam Benzwi
Quick Facts
Biography
Adam Benzwi (born February 1, 1965) is an American-born German pianist, conductor, music arranger/director, and music educator. Since 1984, he has lived in Berlin, Germany, where he is the musical director of musical/show course at the Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste Berlin.)
Life and career
Benzwi was born on February 1, 1965, in San Diego, California. He grew up in La Jolla, California, where he began working professionally as a cocktail party pianist at the tender age of twelve. When he was nineteen, he moved to Germany. He began his Berlin career at the Kleines Theater am Südwestkorso, a unique tiny theatre which offers new plays exclusively, with Das Küssen macht so gut wie kein Geräusch, the UFA-Revue: Bombenstimmung and Blue Jeans at the Theater des Westens, Berlin's greatest theater for musicals, and Bezauberndes Fräulein! at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's legendary theater, where Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny opened in 1931 under Max Reinhardt.
Benzwi attended Columbia University in New York and Stanford University in Berlin.
Over the years, Benzwi has accompanied such well-known German stage and screen stars as Dagmar Manzel, Andrea Sawatzki, Walter Schmidinger, Ralf Wolter, Helmut Baumann, Gisela May, Angelika Milster, Désirée Nick, Angela Winkler, Judy Winter, Daniela Ziegler, Wolfram Koch and Anne Sofie von Otter in their solo concerts.
Since the late 1980s, Benzwi has been involved in the development of the Musical/Show degree programme at the Universität der Künste, where he began as Stanley Walden's assistant, a role he filled for five years. Today, Benzwi is the musical director and a professor in the programme. He is a member of the expert panel for the German Government's Bundeswettbewerb Gesang singing competition.
Since 2010, he has been collaborating with Angela Winkler, and in 2012 they released the CD Ich liebe dich, kann ich nicht sagen, followed by concerts at venues such as the Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris, France, and the Berliner Ensemble. His audiences are familiar with Benzwi's passion for putting forgotten German Schlagers on the stage in new ways from productions such as 8 Women at the Renaissance-Theater, UFA-Revue: Bombenstimmung, and Blue Jeans at the Theater des Westens, and Bezauberndes Fräulein at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm.
Benzwi was the musical director of the legendary production of Cabaret at Bar jeder Vernunft, as well as Pam Gems and Volker Kühn's musical Marlene at the Renaissance-Theater, featuring Judy Winter. He made a new arrangement for Peter Lund's production of My Fair Lady at the Admiralspalast, for which he also performed the musical direction.
He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the German National Singing Competition.
Benzwi is also regularly featured in film and TV work. Most recently, he was seen as "Cosme McMoon" in Ralf Pleger's feature film The Florence Foster Jenkins Story with Joyce DiDonato.
Musical Arrangement
- 1992 "Bombenstimmung – eine Ufa-Revue", Theater des Westens, Berlin
- 1994 "Blue Jeans", Unterhaltungsrevue, Theater des Westens, Berlin
- 1997 "Let's Pop", Lieder der 60er Jahre, Theater des Westens, Berlin
- 2020 "Ich wollt', ich wär' ein Huhn!, Berlin-Abend, Komische Oper Berlin
Musical direction
- 1986 "Das Küssen macht so gut wie kein Geräusch" (Kleines Theater Berlin)
- 1988 "Linie 1" (Alte Oper Frankfurt)
- 1992 UFA-Revue Bombenstimmung (Theater des Westens)
- 1993 "Marlene – das Musical", Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin
- 1998 "Marlene" by Pam Gems, Renisscance-Theater with Judy Winter
- 2000 "Bezauberndes Fräulein" by Ralph Benatzky, Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Berlin
- 2003 "Acht Frauen" by Robert Thomas, Renaissance-Theater, Berlin
- 2003 "Group" by Conor Mitchell, Universität der Künste, Berlin
- 2004 "Cabaret – Das Musical", Bar jeder Vernunft, Berlin
- 2008 "My Fair Lady", Admiralspalast, Berlin
- 2013 "Berliner Luft", Alte Oper Frankfurt/Komische Oper Berlin
- 2013 "Ball im Savoy" by Paul Abraham. Komische Oper Berlin
- 2015 "Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will!" by Oscar Straus, Komische Oper Berlin
- 2016 "Die Perlen der Cleopatra" by Oscar Straus, Komische Oper Berlin
- 2017 "Märchen im Grand Hotel", Komische Oper Berlin
- 2019 "Die Prinzessin von Trapezunt" by Jacques Offenbach, Theater für Niedersachsen
- 2019 "Zainaida" by Johann Christian Bach, Staatstheater Mainz
- 2020 "Ich wollt', ich wär' ein Huhn!, Komische Oper Berlin
Diskography
- 1993 "Marlene – das Musical" (Theater am Kurfürstendamm)
- 1994 "Blue Jeans" (Theater des Westens)
- 1995 "Hollywud, ick komme" with Désirée Nick
- 1998 "Daniela Ziegler singt Ralph Benatzky"
- 1998 "Marlene" with Judy Winter (Renaissance-Theater Berlin)
- 2000 "Land in Sicht" with Uli Scherbel
- 2000 "Ohne dich macht das Leben überhaupt mehr Spaß" by Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill with Helene Grass and Gerd Wameling
- 2002 "Bezauberndes Fräulein" (Theater am Kurfürstendamm)
- 2011 "ich liebe dich, kann ich nicht sagen" with Angela Winkler