SEBASTIAN KNAUER
?
Sebastian Knauer was born in 1971 in Hamburg, Germany, and began playing the piano at the age of five. His teachers included Gernot Kahl, Karl-Heinz Kammerling and Philippe Entremont.
?
A prize-winner at numerous competitions, he gave his concerto debut at the age of 13, performing Haydn's D-Major Piano Concerto in the Hamburg Musikhalle. Shortly afterwards followed his international debut as part of the "European Concert" Series for RAI in Venice. Subsequent tours have taken him to Germany, France, England, Holland, Italy, Poland, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Israel, Indonesia, Lebanon and to the United Arab Emerates. He has performed in major concert Halls such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Berlin Konzerthaus, Barbican Center London, Lincoln Centre New York, the Cypress Creek Arts Centre in Houston and the Kravis Centre in West Palm Beach
?
The conductors with whom Sebastian Knauer has worked include Gerd Albrecht, Vladimir Fedosseyew, Neeme Jarvi, Christoph Eschenbach, John Axelrod, Ingo Metzmacher, Helmut MullerBruhl and Philippe Entremont. Together with Entremont, he regularly performs repertoire for two pianos, as was the case in Tel Aviv, where they played the Double Concertos of Mozart and Mendelssohn with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Other major orchestras with whom Knauer has worked are the NDR-Symphony, Hamburg State Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Sinfonia Varsovia, MDR-Kammerphilharmonie Leipzig, Klassisch Philharmonie Bonn, Cologne Chamber, Halle State Philharmonic, Luzern Symphony, Vienna Chamber, Netherlands Chamber, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, SWF-Baden Baden, Shreveport Symphony and the New York City Opera. In April 1999 he toured throughout Brasil with the NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover conducted by Eiji Oue with celebrated performances, in such venues as the Teatro Municipal Sao Paulo and the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro.
?
Sebastian Knauer is a regular guest at festivals such as Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, MDR-Musiksommer, Bonn Beethoven-Fest, Steinway Festial in The Hague, Braunschweig Chamber Music Podium, Festival International de Colmar, Santo Domingo Festival in the Dominican Republic, the Byblos Festival in the Lebanon, Baden Baden Festspiele, Lincoln Centre Festival in New York, Ravinia, Interlochen, the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Festival Musicale di castel Gavarno in Bergamo, Fontainebleau, at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad and at the John Adams Festival of the BBC Symphony at the Barbican in London.
?
A dedicated chamber-musician since he was ten, Sebastian Knauer now tours extensively with the BRAHMS ENSEMBLE, which he founded in 1996. He has worked with distinguished artists: the choreographer John Neumeier and the Hamburg State Ballet, Hermann Prey, Andras Schiff, Alexis Weissenberg, John Perry, Gyorgy Sandor, Siegfried Palm, Daniel Hope, Alban Gerhardt, the Aron Quartet Vienna and the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin (Berlin Philharmonic).
?
His Debut CD is dedicated to the solo piano music of George Gershwin. It was released by GLISSANDO in September 1998, for the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. His second CD with solo piano works of Schubert was released in May 1999 on the BERLIN CLASSICS label. His third CD (Berlin Classics/Edel), is of Piano Concertos by W.A.Mozart's son, Franz Xaver Mozart, with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra conducted by Philippe Entremont. His CD "Nocturnes" was released in October 2000, followed by another solo disc of works by Bernstein, Barber and Copland, (voted Hot Tip of the year 2001 by "RONDO MAGAZINE".) He has also recorded Bernstein's 'Anniversaries' for the DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON label.
He is performing and directing all 27 Mozart Piano Concertos with the Hamburg Philharmonic in 2002.
