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The German-Brazilian choral conductor, organist and composer, Axel Bergstedt, lived in front of the famous old Cathedral of Ratzeburg, a well known Lutheran church. It is a center of church music, and the conductor and organist Neithard Bethke became the beloved teacher of the young Axel. Famous musicians like Peter Hurford and Helen Donath came to the cathedral, including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, all invited by Neithard Bethke. Later he studied Church Music and Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (1979-1988), with the conductor Klauspeter Seibel and the organist Heinz Wunderlich.
Axel Bergstedt served as organist and conductor at the Hamburg Lutheran Church (1982-1988). In 1985 he became conductor of the Hamburger Bach-Orchester (1985-2000), dedicated to church music of the 18th century, associated with choir and children's choir. He is also the composer of the large musical Ronja Räubertochter (based on Ronia the Robber's Daughter book by Astrid Lindgren), with orchestra and 120 persons on the stage. In 1994 he was invited to visit Brazil for the first time. After marrying a Brazilian woman, he lived in Belo Horizonte and Vitória. In 1995-1996 he took part in the album "The Time of the Oath" by the German power metal band Helloween. In 1998 he played in the film Schlange auf dem Altar, on a church organist who works in a prison. He married a Brazilian woman and they lived in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) and Vitoria (Espírito Santo). He worked on social projects as a volunteer in Belo Horizonte, with music for 150 children (2001-2002). He continued his work as a musician hired by churches, Programa Criança Feliz and other NGOs in Belo Horizonte (2003-2005)
In 2004 the Lutheran Church of Brazil invited Axel Bergstedt for a new project in Cariacica (Espírito Santo), a region of simple workers. From 2005 he worked in Cariacica, Vitória, Espírito Santo and other cities as a music teacher in schools and churches and also at the music college, and direced several choirs. He wrote many compositions and arrangements for the new project. Well known are his Louva ao Senhor and Aquecendo Corações, the Brazilian version of Let our hearts burn from his CD "Aquecendo Corações". He also translated cantatas and oratorios, such as J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium BWV 248, which premiered in Portuguese in 2009 in Brasília. He who currently lives in Cariacica, Brazil.
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