Bertha Elena Artero Ponce

Bertha Elena Artero Ponce (b. 1980) lives and works in Berlin as an independent composer, educator, and cultural organizer. She is a co-founder of Comusik, a platform and podcast fostering collaboration among composers, instrumentalists, and collectives from Latin America and Europe. Her work is closely connected with the Gather and Musica Inaudita collectives at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), as well as the Archipel community web radio and Colaboradio Berlin (Berlin / Potsdam – Colaboradio / Freies Radio Berlin Brandenburg). She is a member of Gather, Archipel community, comunidad sikuris Berlin and initiative neue musik Berlin (inm).

Currently, she is exploring the interplay of noise and visuals using open-source software like Hydra, notebooks from GitHub, and acoustic instruments combined with DIY synthesizers.

Her works have been premiered at international festivals, concerts and workshops: Jornadas de música contemporánea in her hometown (2011-2016); Taller VocaalLab Madrid (2009), Festival VozeArte Valencia (2012); I Encuentro de Jóvenes Compositores e Intérpretes VENEZUELA AD LIBITUM (2015); Festival Latinoamericano Caracas (2021); Utzon Center in Aalborg Denmark (2021-2024); Museo Oteiza in Navarra Spain (2022); Festival SOXXI, RiberAlz, Ágora actual Spain (2024-2025) and at University of arts (UdK) Germany (2024).

The films she has scored, have premiered and been showcased at various festivals, including Filmfest Biberach (A Hard-Working Man), FILMFESTIVAL MAX OPHÜLS PREIS (A los cuatro vientos, Paradies), Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Braunschweig International Film Festival Exground Filmfest, and the Maryland Film Festival (Paradies).

She has collaborated for various multimedia projects with students from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (KHM), the Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, the production company Scat and the Inderbo and Fundasil Foundations from Bolivia.

In 2004, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Composition and Orchestral Conducting from Universidad Católica Boliviana in La Paz. Between 2004 and 2005, she took part in the Music in Education Program at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 2015, she completed a master’s degree in Composition at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2020, she obtained a master’s degree in Film Music from Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany.

Works Catalogue

Orchestral & Large Ensemble Works

• De lo extinto (2015) – orchestra
• Huayrisata (2015) – orchestra
• Tocnolencias (2012) – orchestra
• Cronopio (2003) – orchestra

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Chamber Music

• UNU (2025) – percussion sextet for multipercussion
• Katari (2024) – percussion sextet for aluphones
• La piedad del ciprés (2012 / rev. 2024) – soprano & piano
• La piedra y el fuego (2023) – solo multipercussion and fixed media
• Estratos (2022) – two oboes
• Cinco pequeñas danzas (2020) – alto saxophone & marimba
• Zungenbrecher (2018) – piano & recorder
• El camino (2016) – string quartet
• Chalumeaux (2015) – two clarinets (five miniatures)
• Personajes (2011) – string quartet
• Trío Quechua (2010) – soprano, cello & piano
• Tres canciones (2009) – soprano & piano
• Sonata in One Movement (2008) – piano solo

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Electroacoustic, Experimental & Generative Works

• UNU reinterpretation (2025-26) – algorithmic re-composition of UNU for percussion sextet
• La tristeza y el cansancio (2025) – voice, wind instruments & AI-generated bass
• Karu – lejos (2025) – oscillators & Andean winds
• Microtextil – Screamo (2025) – compressed experimental study
• Doppelgänger (2025) – algorithmic re-composition of Estratos
• Textil – Awana (2024) – DIY oscillators, Andean winds, AI bass
• Caverna (2024) – expanded version for oscillators & winds
• Túneles (2024) – AI-trained generative composition
• Vini-Voice (2023) – generative system from piano & guitar
• Underwater Robot (2023) – generative percussion-based system
• Radio–Factory (2022) – piezo sensors & field recordings
• Ambientes (2021) – composed deep-listening environments
• Haikus – Naturaleza Artificial (2021) – two voices (Quechua & Japanese) and electronics
• Marabullo (2020) – radio material, noise, electronics

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Film & Audiovisual Music (selection)

• Paradise (2020) – feature film excerpts
• Documentary for Franz Gutmann (92) (2020)
• A los cuatro vientos (2019) – feature documentary
• Der Mann mit der Kamera (2019) – New score (excerpts) for Dziga Vertov’s silent film
• A Hard-Working Man (2018) – short film

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Applied & Commissioned Works

Multilingual children’s radio productions

Radio and educational campaigns for water awareness and disability inclusion

Music for foundations supporting blind and deaf communities