Born in Holzwickede the oldest child of the guitar player Thomas Brendgens-Mönkemeyer and his wife Heidemarie Mönkemeyer, he first studied the violin at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
[2] He continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Hariolf Schlichtig from 2000,[3] graduating in 2003 with a diploma "mit Auszeichnung".
[4] Mönkemeyer first played an Italian viola by Giuseppe Cavaleri from 1742, a loan from the Landessammlung Rheinland-Pfalz.
[3] For his first CD, Ohne Worte, he chose songs by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, playing them "without words", accompanied by Nicholas Rimmer.
[3] In 2009 he was appointed professor of viola at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.