Donatus Bergemann was born in Bad Liebenwerda and received piano lessons from the age of 7. At the age of 13 he added the double bass. After a year of preliminary studies at the Dresden Academy of Music, he began his double bass studies there in 1972, graduating in 1977. He later took lessons with Eugen Röder (then the assistant double bassist of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra).
He was first solo bassist at the Gerhard Hauptmann Theater in Görlitz before becoming a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra in 1980. He also plays in the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Capella Sagittariana Dresden. His special love is baroque music.