Thilo Berndt’s Amazing Summer Experience at Prodigy Camp 2012

Prodigy Camp 2012

Each year this site is honored to recommend a young artist to participate in Prodigy Camp held in Washington State, USA, under the direction of Film Director/Producer Rick Stevenson.   This past summer the amazing young singer, performer/ musician Thilo Berndt was awarded a full scholarship to attend Prodigy Camp 2012.   Thilo exclaimed;

“This camp was one of the best things that ever happened to me!”

Through the camp experience Thilo was introduced to the amazing singer, musician, and producer David Ryan Harris who helped Thilo become a creative songwriter and storyteller.  When the camp concluded Thilo traveled to Los Angeles, California to meet with David and work on some original songs.  Thilo is currently working on a number of originals that can be used as demos.  Of course his fans all hope that this compilation of music will soon turn into a CD that Thilo can share with all of us!

While I can’t yet share what I was privileged to privately hear, I can tell you that Thilo ‘s new sound is beyond amazing!  His creativity and distinct musical sound is about to turn the heads of many professionals in the industry.

I caught up with Thilo this past week and asked him to tell us a little about his summer adventure. The following is Thilo’s story, in his own words, about his amazing life changing summer experience at Prodigy Camp.

Summer 2012 by Thilo Berndt:

While this wasn’t my first long-distance flight, I never expected to experience what I did last summer.

I received an invitation from The Seattle Film School to participate in the “Prodigy Camp”. This is a camp for young talented film maker’s, storytellers and songwriters. I was proud to get the scholarship and very excited about it.

My mom came along so I felt comfortable and I love flying. I also love tomato juice, but only on airplanes. I don´t drink it on the ground. So I had several tomato juices, watched some good movies, listen to my favorite singer Taylor Swift, and before I knew it the flight was over.

We rented a car at the airport and set the navigation system for the camp on Whidbey Island. We made our way through a beautiful landscape that reminded me of the Twilight movies and found the camp near the beach.

It was exciting to meet so many kids my own age for the first time. So exciting, that I didn´t even feel the jetlag. But the most surprising thing was that it didn´t take long for me to feel familiar with the others. This was largely due to the fact that we shared so much in common.

Maybe some of you will understand this feeling. At home, when at school, I kind of hide my talents, or more or less don´t speaks about them.  You see, when I was younger I got bullied so much about it, that I learned my lesson to just keep quiet. That way I could avoid conflicts.

But at the camp, OMG! We all were alike, so there was no reason for hiding anything. I got to know girls and boys who wrote and directed brilliant short films and one boy who composed music for orchestras. I had my own tutor for songwriting, David Ryan Harris from L.A. and we worked together on a song that I had brought with me.

It is not that I didn´t know theoretically how to write a song but somehow I didn´t have the confidence to finish a song. David helped me to develop that confidence. We finished my song “Little Prince” and we performed it together at the Camp. 

Here is an exclusive preview of my new original song. I hope you enjoy it! [ti_audio media=”3131″ width=”400″]

I also worked with the filmmakers, acting for them and helping on their sets with preparation and arrangement.

I met Nathan Gamble a famous American actor from the “Dophin Tail”. He was very inspiring to me, and is a good director as well!

We gathered at a campfire every evening which helped us to get to know each other very well by the end of the week.

We were very sad when we had to say goodbye, but promised to stay in contact with each other.

We will have a reunion this year at Camp and luckily I will be there because I am participating in a High School Exchange Program in Vancouver this year after summer holidays.  I´m so looking forward to seeing all my friends again!

This Camp was one of the best things that ever happened to me!

 Congratulations Thilo on all your recent success! You can be sure that Rivenmaster’s Place will be here to keep your fans posted about your new music and continue to support you in your musical journey!  Best of Success and please stay in touch!

Here are a few more photos of Thilo’s Summer.  Click the photo for a larger view!