(Leiden, July 24th. 1878 – Berlin, September 22nd. 1957) is at present nearly forgotten, but was a celebrated baritone of international stature in his time. After a decent education in The Netherlands and Germany, he made a splendid career through the city theatres of Magdeburg and Hamburg. When he was of relatively young age, he was appointed at the Berlin Court Opera (later: State Opera 'Unter den Linden') and decorated by the contemporary emperor Wilhelm II. He toured Europe and did multiple attempts to revitalise the poor standard of the Dutch opera.

What mostly distinguishes Bronsgeest from other famous contemporaries in music, is that he was a founding father of the radio. The Berlin ‘Rundfunk’ developed into a pre-eminent mass medium very rapidly during the 1920’s. Besides radio play, classical music and opera belonged to the most popular items of the programming. Bronsgeest’s star rose fast and he became at least just as famous as a radioman as he had been as a baritone. The Berlin radio became the new platform for discovering and launching stars. For example, the tenor Joseph Schmidt was barred a stage career because he was of small stature. Schmidt became incredibly famous

after his discovery by Bronsgeest who engaged him for broadcasts and recordings.

The radio popularised certain music styles such as opera and operetta, attracted more visitors to the theatres, but also became client of new musical compositions and the reintroducing of forgotten work. Bronsgeest founded two major institutions, the Berliner Rundfunk Orchester and the Berliner Rundfunk Chor (currently Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) and Rundfunkchor Berlin).

In his professional life Cornelis Bronsgeest joined stage and studio with famous, unforgettable opera singers like for instance: Enrico Caruso, Geraldine Farrar, Jacques Urlus, Johannes Messchaert, Louis van de Sande, Anton van Rooy, Josef Schmidt, Paul Knüpfer, Frieda Hempel, Baptist Hoffmann, Walther Kirchhoff, Erna Denera, Gotthelf Pistora and Ludwig Hofmann. Besides he engaged several famous contemporary conductors to perform in his Berlin radio studio’s: Erich Kleiber, Willem Mengelberg, Richard Strauss, Thomas Beecham, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Siegfried Wagner, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Selmar Meyrowitz, Max von Schillings, Hugo Rüdel, Leo Blech and Hermann Abendroth.