Profile

Matthias KIRSCHNEREIT(Germany)

Jury Member, Piano Section

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Matthias Kirschnereit is a “poet at the piano”. Wherever he performs, he captivates listeners with his gift for uncovering and conveying the richness of feeling, the narrative expression and thus the human traits in the music. On 22 September 2023, he released a new double album entitled “Time Remembered” on Berlin Classics. For this, he has put together a very personal “playlist” ranging from Bach and Bill Evans to Rachmaninov and Toru Takemitsu.
Matthias Kirschnereit performs worldwide with leading orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, New City Philharmonic Orchestra Tokyo, Het Residentie Orkest Den Haag, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Camerata Salzburg and Münchener Kammerorchester. He has worked with the conductors Hartmut Haenchen, Marcus Bosch, Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Manze, Sándor Végh, Michael Sanderling, Frank Beermann, Alexander Liebreich, Ariane Matiakh, Yuri Temirkanov and Alondra de la Parra. His chamber music partners include the violinists Christian Tetzlaff, Lena Neudauer and Daniel Hope, the horn player Felix Klieser, the clarinettist Sharon Kam, the cellists Julian Steckel, Daniel Müller-Schott, the Minguet Quartet, the Aris Quartet and the Amaryllis Quartet.
An extensive discography has documented Matthias Kirsch-nereit’s work since 1989. His complete recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos has set standards, and he received an ECHO Klassik award for the world premiere recording of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s reconstructed Piano Concerto in E minor. Kirschnereit also devotes himself to unusual repertoire; he has recorded piano concertos by Julius Röntgen and Handel’s organ concertos in his own piano version. His Brahms album “FAE – Frei aber einsam” was described by WDR as the “outstanding Brahms recording of recent years”. NDR Kultur wrote about his CD “Concertant” with all of Robert Schu-mann’s works for piano and orchestra: “poetic, free, blissful.”
Matthias Kirschnereit has been Artistic Director of the Gezeitenkonzerte since 2012. Every year, numerous artists of international standing accept his invitation to East Frisia and inspire an ever-growing audience. As a professor at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre, he passes on his experience and artistic ideals to future generations. He is also involved in the Rhapsody in School initiative and the TONALi cultural project.

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