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"If you were music, I would listen to you ceaselessly, and my low spirits would brighten up." - Anna Akhmatova

"Throughout the evening Gees played as if he had composed the pieces himself and was therefore extremely vigilant to make sure the performance was carried out according to his inner ear. His eyes were not those of an artist intent on reproduction, but  shone rather a lambent look of passion, just as one might imagine the composer as the creator.“ N. Campogrande Michael Gees’ biography certainly justifies the term: exceptional. Few others can claim to have a career already behind them at the tender age of fifteen: Born in 1953 into a world of sound and music, both parents are singers, the piano is his favourite toy at age three. Formal piano lessons follow at age five, and the young musician subsequently goes on to win the Steinway Competition at age eight and receives a scholarship at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
The child prodigy is hailed as “Westphalian Mozart“, takes up studies at the conservatories in Detmold and Vienna and it seems as if he is fast on his way to become an internationally acclaimed pianist. Were it not for the gifted child’s longing to explore the world of sound on his own terms, to playfully experience his self like the great masters’ music, to invent their music all over again, note for note instead of limiting himself to a technical practice regimen. Michael Gees flees the pressure of a predetermined competitional career at the age of fifteen, leaves school, conservatory and home behind, supports himself through odd jobs, works as archeological assistant and, in the process, for the duration of two full years, becomes a sailor.
Chance leads him back to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, where he resumes his compositional studies and eventually graduates. He now develops first rate pianistic chops on his own, composes a number of works, gains international renown as lied accompanist of extraordinary proportions with Christoph Prégardien and also appears in concerts globally; in Paris, London, New York and Tokio. All the while, he nurses and feeds his preference for combining the performance of music of past masters with living inspiration, thereby creating remarkable performances with his instrument.
In 1989, Gees founds “forum kunstvereint“ in his adopted hometown of Gelsenkirchen; the Consol Theater, also installed by him, opens its doors in 2001 on the confines of the former mining area Consolidation. There, music, dance and theatre projects take shape, where children, youths and adults alike are incited and encouraged to discover and realize their own artistic impulses. A steady number of CDs have been released from 1996 onward on forum kunstvereint, CPO and EMI, showcasing Michael Gees’ range.
Since 2008 Michael Gees is associated to the Netherlands label Challenge Classics. The 2009 release of the Schöne Müllerin with Christoph Prégardien won the MIDEM Classical Award and became Recording of the Year. Michael Gees works on solo-recitals which enjoy breaking with tradition, on modernized lied-renditions, melodramas and stage music.

Featured on

Franz Schubert
Song Cycles - Die schöne Müllerin / Schwanengesang / Winterreise
Christoph Prégardien / Andreas Staier / Michael Gees
Various composers
Father & Son (reissue)
Christoph & Julian Prégardien
Michael Gees, Bella Adamova
Blooming
Michael Gees / Bella Adamova
Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner
Dichterliebe Op. 48 / Lenau-Lieder und Requiem Op. 90 / Wesendonck Lieder
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Various composers
A Matter of Heart
Olivier Darbellay / Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach - Mendelssohn - Metamorphosis
Michael Gees
Liederkreis
Anna Lucia Richter | Michael Gees
Michael Gees, Frans Ehlhart, Marion von Tilzer
Secret Key Masters
Michael Gees / Frans Ehlhart / Marion von Tilzer
Father & Son
Christoph & Julian Prégardien
Various composers
The Spirit Of Turtle [Longbox]
Various artists
Winterreise
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Franz Schubert
Winterreise (BluRay)
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Robert Schumann
Beyond Schumann
Michael Gees
Franz Schubert
Winterreise (DVD)
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Various composers
Schöne Welt, wo bist Du?
Julia Kleiter / Michael Gees
Michael Gees
ImproviSatie
Michael Gees
Various composers
Between life and death - Songs and Arias
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees
Franz Schubert
Die schöne Müllerin
Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees

Videos

Christoph Prégardien & Michael Gees on Vrije Geluiden (part 1)
Christoph Prégardien & Michael Gees on Vrije Geluiden (part 2)
Trailer Michael Gees - ImproviSatie
Michael Gees - Die Nachtigall
Winterreise official trailer
Film "Winterreise" official trailer (including interviews) - Christoph Prégardien & Michael Gees
Michael Gees - 'Beyond Schumann' - trailer
Michael Gees - 'Beyond Schumann'
Christoph and Julian Prégardien and Michael Gees: 'Father & Son'
Anna Lucia Richter & Michael Gees - Liederkreis
ella Adamova & Michael Gees - from the album 'Blooming': 'я буду петь, земная и чужая'