Gerard Bunk

Gerard Bunk (born 4 March 1888 in Rotterdam; died 13 September 1958 in Kamen) was a German-Dutch organist, pianist, harpsichordist, choirmaster and composer. Life and work Gerard Bunk was a student at the Rotterdam Conservatory of the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst since 1901. The focus of his education was on piano studies with Anton Verheij. After a short stay in Hull and London (with the pianist Mark Hambourg ), he came to Bielefeld in 1906 to the piano teacher Hans Hermanns, whom he followed to the Hamburg Conservatory. In 1907 Bunk became a piano teacher at the conservatory in Bielefeld. He trained himself at the organ mainly autodidactically, whereby his pianistic skills paid off. On 20 June 1907, Bunk gave his first organ concert in the Bielefeld Synagogue. Here and in the Neustädter Marienkirche he played cyclical concert series in the following years. On 5 May 1910, Bunk stood in for Karl Straube at the first concert of the Dortmund Max-Reger-Festival and took turns with Reger at the “giant organ” of St. Reinold’s Church, which had been built the previous year. Reger then recommended him to the Dortmund Hüttner Conservatory, where Bunk taught piano and later or