Matthias Kirschnereit

Matthias Kirschnereit is among the most sought-after and interesting German pianists of his generation. Born in Westphalia, Kirschnereit grew up in the Namibian desert and began his intense pianistic work at the Detmold Music Academy under the direction of Professor Renate Kretschmar-Fischer. He was also tutored by Claudio Arrau, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Murray Perahia, Oleg Maisenberg and Sandor Végh. He received prizes at the German Music Competition in Bonn, the Géza Anda and Sydney International Piano Competitions which has lead to invitations for performances on five continents, including appearances with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tonhall Orchestra of Zurich, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Stuttgart and Leipzig, Budapest, and the Zurich and Cologne Chamber Orchestra as well as the Festival Strings of Lucerne. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Piano Festival Ruhr, the Berliner Festwochen, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Schubertiade Feldkirch and the Gilmore Festival in Michigan. Extensive performances in chamber music settings have been with artists such as Christian Tetzlaff and the Artemis Quartet.

Recently, he successfully completed the recording of the complete piano concerti of Mozart with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Frank Beermann on the ARTE NOVA label. Other highly praised recordings have featured the early piano compositions of Johannes Brahms and the works of Schumann including the “Fantasy in C Major, op. 17” and “Bunte Blätter.”

Since 1997, Matthias Kirschnereit has been professor at the newly founded Academy of Music and Theatre in Rostock, Germany. He makes his home residence in Hamburg Germany and devotes sparetime to painting, architecture, Italian food and soccer.

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