Antje Asendorf discovered her love for the guitar at an early age and began lessons at age five. She commenced university studies at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, USA, which was followed by a period at the Academy of Music in Darmstadt. Beginning in 1999, she studied classical guitar with Klaus Hempel and Olaf Van Gonnissen at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. She obtained her Master of Music degree under Carlo Marchione at the University of Music in Maastricht, followed by the Solistenexamen at the University of Music in Stuttgart with Johannes Monno. Many masterclasses with Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Konrad Ragossnig and others rounded out Asendorf’s musical education, and she was also supported by Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now program.Asendorf’s repertoire comprises works for the baroque, romantic and modern concert guitars. A wide range of CDs and radio and television recordings testify to her musical breadth, and chamber music is of special significance to her.
Since October 2010 she is a member of the Barrios Guitar Quartet.
During her student years, she was active as a chamber music coach in the guitar department at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, and today she cultivates a special focus on art song and recitation accompaniment. She gives concerts with the Catalan soprano Anna Escala in Germany and Spain and has performed the melodrama Platero y Yo by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for the association Artists Against Cancer. On several occasions, she has been involved in performances of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Romancero Gitano for choir and guitar, including one at the 2012 International Guitar Festival in Nürtingen. Asendorf has performed with many different types of ensembles including orchestra as well as in guitar duos, duos with piano, and trios with violin and viola.
Antje Asendorf teaches classical guitar at the University of Siegen in addition to maintaining her own guitar school.
