Severin von Eckardstein, one of the leading German pianists of his generation, has an already lengthy record of solo concerts and concerto performances on major stages around the world.
He has performed with orchestras such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, NHK Orchestra or the Mariinsky Orchestra, and conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Jaap Van Zweeden, Philippe Herreweghe, Marek Janowski and Valery Gergiev.
As a frequent guest of the concert series “Meesterpianisten” at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, von Eckardstein opened the gala concert celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary in 2012. In 2020 he was reinvited to this extraordinary series for the 8th time. He appears regularly at the Berliner Klavierfestival, Germany.
Born in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1978, the pianist won prizes at numerous noteworthy international competitions, e.g the “Leeds International Piano Competition” (2000), the ARD-Competition in Munich (1999) and was awarded first prize at the “Concours Reine Elisabeth” in Brussels (2003).
Von Eckardstein’s education in the musical arts was predominately shaped by his teachers Prof. Barbara Szczepanska, Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Prof. Klaus Hellwig, University of Arts, Berlin. In an additional course of study at the International Piano Academy Lake Como, Italy, he profited from further instruction and inspiration. He regularly gives masterclasses, for example in Finland and South Korea. After three years as a professor at the Cologne University of Music, he accepted a professorship at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts in 2026.
Chamber music also plays a significant role in his repertoire with performances at festivals such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Finland, Delft Chamber Music Festival, Netherlands, and the Risør Chamber Music Festival, Norway, where he appeared with cellist Heinrich Schiff. His partners are for example the Schumann Quartet, Sophia Jaffé, isabelle van Keulen, Isang Enders and Nicolas Altstaedt. In 2015 he founded the chamber concert series “Klangbrücken” at Konzerthaus Berlin together with violinist Franziska Hölscher.
CD recordings with compositions by Medtner, Scriabin, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and others are highly regarded. His recording of Dupont´s cycle “La maison dans les dunes” was awarded with “Diapason d´Or”. Piano Concertos by Medtner and Scharwenka with the Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra will be released in 2026.
Known for captivating interpretations of a wide repertoire, Tamara Stefanovich performs at the world’s major concert venues including Carnegie Hall New York, Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo and London’s Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls. She features in international festivals such as La Roque d’Antheron, Ravenna, Salzburger Festspiele, Styriarte Graz and Beethovenfest Bonn. Stefanovich has appeared with orchestras including The Cleveland and Chicago Symphonies, London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, Bamberger Symphoniker, Britten Sinfonia, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Tamara Stefanovich has collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä and Susanna Mälkki, as well as leading composers including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös and György Kurtág. She regularly leads educational projects at London’s Barbican Centre, Kölner Philharmonie and at Klavier-Festival Ruhr such as the innovative online project of interactive pedagogical analyses Boulez’ Notations: www.explorethescore.org. Tamara is cofounder and curator of a newly created festival “The Clearing” at Portland International Piano Series.
Richard Wagner was an important innovator of music in his time. He is best known for his operas, which he himself preferred to refer to as musical dramas. He wrote the texts (the libretti) himself and sought to make a Gesamtkunstwerk, the ideal union of text, music and theatre. Over time, this lead to grandiose musical dramas which were performed in a specially built theater for these works in the small town of Bayreuth.
Wagner's greatest critic, the philosopher Nietzsche, named his former friend the "greatest miniaturist of music who in the smallest of space squeezed an endless amount of sense and sweetness". Nietzsche regarded this as a sympton of decadence, yet it does portray the large variety of treasures which can be found in Wagner's music: the mysterious fantasy stories of the love potion of Tristan & Isolde, Wotan's spear, the sea of flames of Brünhilde, the sword of Siegfried... Still the real main character is the orchestra, which shines its light on all the true intentions and feelings of these heroes with great depth.
Both as a composer and as an individual, Wagner remains a subject of controversy and emotional discussions. By many he is hailed as a hero, and by equally many others completely dismissed. But his influence as a composer and musical innovator is undeniable!
Giuseppe Verdi is viewed as one of the most important, and most popular, opera composers of Italy. Few composers knew how to balance artistic ideals and commericial interersts like him. He was a composer of 'hits', like his "La donna è mobile" from his opera Rigoletto and his "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from his opera Nabucco, and he was careful not to have his audience feel bored at any moment. Especially his early works are characterised by strongly propelling, rhytmic power. A common example is his Il Trovatore. Yet, Verdi was also a composer with ideals. If he would get intrigued by a character, it became his mission to portray to persona as best as he could in the music. This sometimes meant he was forced to alter or neglect traditional opera forms, like he did in Rigoletto. He was not afraid to touch on socially sensitive matters, which at times led to issues with the establishment. For instance, his opera La traviata turned out to be a controversial one, due to its courtesan heroine. Verdi never engaged in the intellectual discussions on music of his time. He pretended to be a simple man who felt most at home in the countryside. Nonetheless, with the masterful fugal ending of his last opera Falstaff he undoubtedly showed his intellectual level of composing.
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