Willy Berking
Encyclopedia
Willy Berking was a German orchestra conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, trombonist and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Career

Willy Berking studied music (piano, composition) in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 and then in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, where he was at the age of 18, his first big band founded. He had the jazz and especially the swing prescribed, which, however, by the National Socialists was rejected. He played in the 1930 trombone with various dance and entertainment orchestras of the time, including the "Golden Seven" and the Telefunken Swing Orchestra under Heinz Wehner (with whom he went to Berlin 1934), directed by the end of 1943 Studio orchestra for the imperial record (Berking-top series, excellent, swinging shots), parallel, he was in the propaganda big band " Charlie and His Orchestra "active.
Berking was musical director for the Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Eurovision Song Contest 1957
The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the 2nd Eurovision Song Contest. Like the first contest, this one was still mainly a radio programme, but there was a noticeable increase in the number of people with televisions....

 when the contest was held in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

. As well as conducting the German entry, he also conducted the Flemish, Luxembourgish and Swiss entry. Berking has conducted the German entries for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 4 times 1957
Eurovision Song Contest 1957
The Eurovision Song Contest 1957 was the 2nd Eurovision Song Contest. Like the first contest, this one was still mainly a radio programme, but there was a noticeable increase in the number of people with televisions....

, 1963
Eurovision Song Contest 1963
The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the 8th Eurovision Song Contest. France had won the contest in 1962 but were incapable of hosting in 1963, as was their right, due to financial shortcomings. As was the case in 1960 - and as would become a tradition when smaller broadcasters could not afford to...

, 1964
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark after the Danish victory the previous year. Sweden did not participate because of a boycott by singers. They did however broadcast it...

 and 1966
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition and was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created in this year. This was possibly created due to the 1965 Swedish entry, "Absent...

.
Berking died of cancer in 1979.
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