Paul Bernewitz, born in 1997 to a family of musicians in Leipzig, began playing classical piano at the age of 5. Listening to CDs awakened his interest in jazz at an early age, whereupon he taught himself the basics and devoted a lot of time to improvising and his first compositions. During his many years as a member of the Thomanerchor Leipzig, he gained his first band experience and composed for his own trio. He received his first jazz piano lessons with Prof. Ralf Schrabbe at the age of 15, followed by lessons with Michael Wollny, Phillip Frischkorn, Janusc Wozniak and a master class with Aaron Goldberg. In addition to “Jugend jazzt”, where he won 1st and 2nd prize in 2014, he received a sponsorship award at “Jugend komponiert” in 2018, which enabled him to take part in the Jeunesses Musicales composition workshop at Weikersheim Castle. After studying piano and musicology in Dresden and Leipzig for a few semesters, he transferred to the Nuremberg University of Music, where he studied jazz piano with Prof. Rainer Böhm from 2019 to 2023. Since fall 2023, he has been studying jazz arrangement/composition with Prof. Ralf Schrabbe and Prof. Michael Wollny at the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre (HMT). Frank Chastenier is currently his mentor for jazz piano.
His compositions, which are at the interface between new music and jazz, include 60 piano miniatures, art songs, chorales, chamber music and, above all, compositions and arrangements for jazz quartet/quintet. So far, he has recorded a solo album with his piano miniatures (2018) and a duo album with Emil Wahlgren (voc) (2016). His band album “Someday” with his Nuremberg quintet was released in 2022 and received a positive response from the public and the trade press. In 2023, he recorded a solo album, which he will release in 2024 under the title “On the Street Where You Live”.
In addition to his musical activities, he writes poetry and in 2019 founded a literary magazine for poetry and short prose (“Literarische Blätter”), which is published monthly and which he still manages and edits today. Together with Felix Jueterbock (speaker), he developed the jazz poetry program “Ibus helfen nicht gegen die Apokalypse” (quote from Emma Joerges), which premiered in Leipzig in February 2024.
In June 2023, Paul Bernewitz took part in the IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz) meeting in Helsinki. This meeting gave him important musical and intellectual impulses; IASJ founders Dave Liebman, Savannah Harris, Dr. Dana Hall, Anders Jormin and Aaron Goldberg had a particular influence. In Helsinki, he also met the Belgian musicians Toon Rumen (bass) and Robbe Broeckx (drums), with whom he performed in Belgium in October 2023. He is currently planning a concert tour through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands for the piano trio Bernewitz/Rumen/Broeckx.