News

A lot of people have been waiting for live concerts and finally it will happen. On 21 & 22 May, I will be playing in my beautiful home town of Graz in the green heart of Austria. The styriarte presents its first live concerts after the worldwide pandemic and opens the doors of the “Stefaniensaal” of the Congress Graz. I’m looking forward to performing live again.

As part of the internationally renowned music festival “Heidelberger Frühling”, a live video production in a class of its own was created. Together with cellist Julia Hagen, the two violinists Cosima Soulez-Larivière and Maria Wehrmeyer and clarinettist Han Kim, classical works by Brahms, Schumann and Debussy as well as the world premiere by contemporary Korean composer Donghoon Shin called “My Shadow” are on the program. Under the direction of pianist Markus Becker, a great concert evening was created, which can be experienced live HERE on April 16, 2021 at 8pm and will be available for watching on-demand.

For known reasons there are no concerts yet. However, the time is not quiet, but many good projects are happening. Soon more may be revealed about this.

There are plenty of concert dates for 2021, but I would like to wait with the publication, because at the moment many things are changing in a short time. However, we can make a note of the Heidelberger Frühling in Germany (with Igor Levit, Markus Becker and others), the concerts with recreation in the Graz Congress and the finale of the “Premio Antonio Mormone” in the magnificent Italian city of Milan.

In the meantime, I look forward to you listening to the album “Concert apéritif du Piano“. Let’s stick together and look forward to beautiful musical moments in the near future!

Even when the skies for music in public seem to be dark, let us arrive together with fresh power, vigour and joy for music in the new year 2021! I am very much looking forward to all things which 2021 will bring and I am awaiting something huge – the bar isn’t set high after all.

I wish all of you a Happy and – most of all – a Healthy New Year 2021!

“The Beautiful” is possible through Tours fabuleux! – Anke Mattern stands behind the name and presents the new double album “Concert apéritif du Piano”, which was recorded on a Bösendorfer grand piano 280VC. Inspired by an exclusive “Hydrangea” garden tour in the Normandy this summer 2020, this unique Solo Recital comes on two CDs. As a result of the cooperation with Mrs. Mattern, who acted as a whole production team in one person – conception, delicious catering, realization, etc. -, the recording transports the beauty of the music and reflects the joy of all people involved. Thank you very much, Anke Mattern!

The album is available online here.

No words needed…

For the first time I am proud to join the jury of the international music competition “Music & Stars Awards”. Competitions are part of every young emerging musician. From my experience, beside all hard work an important part of standing out in competitions is luck. Even winning international prizes do not guarantee a career. Therefore, it is more important than ever, to find the personal benefits and integrate it into the artistic work. The wonderful example with this very competition ist e.g. the prize for a CD recording. I wish every participant lots of success!

Application deadline: 19 November 2020

During this summer we not only had many beautiful first performances with live audiences, but also mezzo-soprano Magdalena Hinz and me had an equally marvellous project with “Lieder” (songs). Together we formed a repertoire including masterworks by Hugo Wolf, Franz Schubert and the like. Furthermore, we premiered the musical version of Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem “Die Kürze” (The Brevity) by German composer Stefan Heucke (*1959), which can be watched at the end of the video.

Aside from the Corona- and Beethoven-year 2020, we also celebrate German poet Friedrich Hölderlin’s 250th anniversary – same as master Beethoven.

Beethoven’s “Destiny Symphony”. Corona locked the doors of our world’s concert halls. But when the destiny “knocks” on the door with probably the most popular theme in music history, new possibilities are awaiting us.

The Beethoven anniversary goes on and the composer’s works should not be missing on any concert program. Although travelling further distances is not possible due to Corona, there are some concerts happening in attendance of an audience. E.g. in:

2 September – Schloss Langenburg (DE)
11 September – Mortantsch, Mehrzweckhalle (AT)

25 October – Bonn, Bad-Godesberg (DE)

4 December – Weiz (AT)