Winfried Holzenkamp was looking for something to combine his classical skills and his love to rhythmical music. With a scholarship of the German service of academic interchange he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina and stepped into the Tango. After he came back to Europe he became part of the European Tango scene. He is frequently asked to play with several tango groups to play all over Europe, such as Silencio Tango, Marcelo Nisinman Duo, 676 Nuevotango and Sabor a Tango, among others. When he visited Buenos Aires in March, 2004, he was asked to take part in the Tango festival and he played with Emilio Balcarce, Gustavo Beytelmann and the orquesta Escuela de Tango in the Teatro Colón.
Growing up in a house full of instruments, because his father plays a few instruments, he tried out piano, trombone and electric bass until he made up his mind for the double bass at the age of 17. During his studies to become a classical musician with Veit-Peter Schüssler at the University of Köln, he took classes with Dieter Manderscheid (Jazzbass). Joining a Klezmer group he found musicians to perform oriental music in his quartet Döner Four One with Murat Coskun. He auditioned and got work at the opera of Mönchengladbach/Krefeld and Cologne or as principle bass of the musical Cabaret in Düsseldorf. He was asked to record a few radio shows for the WDR Radio in Cologne. With the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn he toured through Germany for several years playing Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden or Bach.
After he finished his studies in Cologne he passed the examination with distinction. After that he went to Buenos Aires and studied at the Escuela de la Música Popular de Avellaneda and took classes with some of the best tango- bass players like Hector Console, Horacio Carbarcos, Alcides Rossi, Daniel Buono and Oscar Giunta.
+ info www.winfriedholzenkamp.de
