Valentin Schiedermair
Pianist
A Valentin Schiedermair performance is more than just a concert….it is a musical event. This London-based German pianist engages with his audience and draws on all his exceptional background and experience to take them on a musical journey. His objective is simple - to share the joy and excitement of music with his audience.
Valentin Schiedermair’s solo tours of China, Taiwan and Singapore drew enthusiastic audiences in fifteen major cities. In Taipei alone he has already given six recitals and they usually finish only after five or six encores. The University of Shenzhen has awarded him a guest professorship in recognition of his contribution to the musical exchange between China and Germany. TimeOut magazine in Singapore made his recital No1 critics’ choice of the month. It was attended by the German Ambassador and he was invited to give the final concert of the first Singapore Beethoven Sonata Cycle. He also gave the opening concert of the Beethoven Piano Festival in Beethoven’s birthplace in Bonn, Germany.
Schiedermair, who made his debut at a sold-out Berlin Philharmonic Hall, learned from some of the best and has been developing his unique blend of virtuosity and insight in concerts, recitals and orchestral performances world wide for more than 30 years. He comes from a family of scholars with musical roots going back to the 18th century and grew up playing chamber music with his father at the cello. His great-grandfather, himself a pianist and composer, was one of the leading musicologists of his day. He published the first complete edition of Mozart’s letters and founded the Beethoven Archive in Germany, the leading research centre for Beethoven.
Valentin Schiedermair received a classical
education in Heidelberg where he studied at the music academy
with Paul Dan and won first prize in a piano competition. Another
prize in Lugano followed, and he took lessons with the Chopin
prize-winner Halina Czerny-Stefanska and her Polish husband Ludwig
Stefanski. Aged 20 he won a further prize in Barcelona and was
chosen as one of two German students in the performing arts to
continue his studies in New York with scholarships from the
Annette Kade Foundation and the Fulbright
Commission.
In
New York Schiedermair found a stimulating mix of teachers. He heard
Horowitz play in Carnegie Hall and took lessons with Gary Graffman,
Horowitz’s favourite pupil, who taught him much of the core
classical and Romantic repertoire. He continued his studies at the
Vienna Music Academy under Hans Kann, then in London with
Peter Wallfisch at the Royal College of Music. Master classes with
virtuosos Shura Cherkassky, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Mieczyslaw
Horszowski and many others completed his studies. Not surprisingly,
he is now in demand for master classes in Europe and Asia where he
passes on the musical tradition he experienced first-hand. Master
classes have taken place at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in
Singapore, Shenzhen University in China, the National Chiayi
University in Taiwan, the Chinese Culture University, Shih Chien
University and Aletheia University in Taipei as well as the
Mannheim Music Academy in Germany and the Guildhall School of Music
in London.
Since his first radio recording aged 16
Schiedermair has developed a large repertoire and his concert
career has taken him all over the world. He is a frequent guest at
international festivals and has given live and recorded recitals
for radio. His CDs have won him many friends in Asia, where he
tours regularly.
Valentin Schiedermair also composes and teaches
composition. He grew up in a family with a close affinity to the
music of Mozart, Beethoven and the romantic composers. While his
style is essentially intimate and lyrical, his playing conveys
passion and drama in equal measure. He enjoys researching the
historical and biographical background to the music he plays to get
as close to it as possible – and to share this enjoyment with his
audience.
Contact: Valentin_Schiedermair@yahoo.com Copyright 2022 Valentin Schiedermair. All Rights Reserved.