Markus Schirmer Piano Masterclass
We are very delighted to welcome Markus Schirmer to take a masterclass with some of our piano students.
Biography
Energy, expression and emotion characterize Austrian top-pianist Markus Schirmer’s
music making.
No matter where he tours he receives audience acclaim for his charismatic musicianship and
his ability to tell vivid stories with the instrument. One of his reviews sums him up precisely:
“A pied piper on the piano…music that comes straight from the heart, the brain and the
fingertips.”
After intense studies with Rudolf Kehrer, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling or Paul Badura-Skoda
the Graz born artist went on to win numerous prizes and honours and to take a number of
major concert halls and festivals by storm: the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus,
Herkulessaal and Philharmonic (Munich), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Wigmore Hall (London),
Gewandhaus (Leipzig), Philharmonie and Konzerthaus (Berlin), Rudolfinum (Prague), Palais
des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Finlandia Hall (Helsinki), Teatro Teresa Carreño Caracas), Palau de
la Musica (Valencia), Victoria Hall (Geneva), Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Teatro Olimpico
(Vicenza), Megaron (Athens), Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festival
international de piano “La Roque d´Antheron“, Ruhr piano festival, “Stars of White Nights
Festival” (St.Petersburg), Festival pianistico internazionale “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli”
(Brescia), Vilnius Festival, Kissinger Sommer, styriarte, Bregenz Festival, Mondseetage, ISCM
Music Festival and many more.
He has worked with renowned orchestras: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra
St.Petersburg, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber
Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Radio Symphony
Orchestras of Vienna, Munich and Leipzig, Borusan Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, the
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, Sir Neville Marriner, Vladimir
Fedoseyev, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Sir Charles Mackerras, Michael
Gielen, John Axelrod, Fabio Luisi, Yan-Pascal Tortellier, Philippe Entremont, James Judd, Paul
Goodwin and Philippe Jordan among others.
He adores Schubert above all but is also enthusiastic about more obscure works such as
Britten’s ironic piano concerto, the transcendental solo piano oeuvre of Szymanowski or
“Castelli Romani”, an epic piano concerto by Joseph Marx.
Chamber music plays an important role in his work and his partners have included Vadim
Repin, Renaud Capuçon, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Veronika & Clemens Hagen,
Isabelle van Keulen, Sharon Kam, Nils Mönkemeyer, Christian Poltéra, Linus Roth, Natalia
Prishepenko, Danjulo Ishizaka, Boris Giltburg, Patrick Demenga, Christian Altenburger, the
Ensemble Wien-Berlin, the Artis-, the Auryn-, the Carmina Quartet, the String Trio Berlin and
many others.
His love affair with the unusual, his daring and his eagerness to explore new territories
ensure the development of sensational events outside the traditional classical repertoire:
– SCURDIA is an improvisation project which brings together extraordinary musicians from
all over the world on one stage, thus allowing new artistic and creative energies to be set
free by bridging various cultures.
– Markus Schirmer has great pleasure in working with actors, combining literature and
music, and has developed unusual programs which are celebrated by audience and critics
alike.
In collaboration with the American singer and actress Helen Schneider f.e. he presents his
own adaptation of Kurt Weill’s ”The Seven Deadly Sins” for voice and piano.
For his exceptional artistic diversity Markus Schirmer was awarded the “Music Manual
Award“ at the Euromusic International Music Convention and is a recipient of one of
Austria’s most prestigious awards, the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize.
He received the German Record Critics’ Award for his debut CD of Schubert Sonatas.
Further recordings including works by Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, Mussorgsky and his
strongly acclaimed outing “THE MOZART SESSIONS” together with the uplifting US chamber
orchestra A FAR CRY have won numerous international prizes.
In the upcoming season he will be performing at many festivals and concert series in the
United States, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Russia and Austria.
In addition to his work as a very successful Professor of Piano at the Music University in his
hometown Graz – many of his students are acclaimed prizewinners – Markus Schirmer
regularly gives international masterclasses for piano and is a sought after adjudicator at
several prestigious piano competitions.
Furthermore, Markus Schirmer is artistic director of the annual international music festival
ARSONORE, which every September engages top chamber musicians to perform in the Hall
of Planets at Eggenberg Castle (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage) in Graz.
If you would like to attend please email concerts@purcell-school.org.
The masterclass is free to attend but donations to a retiring collection will be gratefully received.