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Severin von Eckardstein was born in 1978 in Düsseldorf,
Germany. He took his first piano lessons when he was six years old.
At the age of 12 he was accepted into Barbara Szczepanska's young
talent class at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Dusseldorf.
During his school years, von Eckardstein continued his piano studies
in Hannover and in Salzburg with Karl-Heinz Kaemmerling. After his
graduation from high school, he attended the Universität
der Künste, Berlin, to take lessons with Klaus Hellwig. Following
his degree in 2002, he continued his studies also at
the International Piano Academy Lake Como, Italy.
Von Eckardstein won numerous competitions, both national and international ones.
Among these are the Hamburg Steinway Competition (1st prize in
1990), the Incontro Internazionale Giovani Pianisti in Italy (1st
prize in 1991), the Feruccio-Busoni Competition in Bozen (1998), and the
ARD Competition in Munich (2nd prize in 1999). In 2000, von Eckardstein
received the third prize and in addition the special prize for best
interpretation of contemporary music at the Leeds International
Piano Competition. Many of the music critics that were present at the time, unanimously
chose Severin von Eckardstein as their winner.
In June 2003 Severin von Eckardstein won the first prize at the
highly prestigious international Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
During the final round of the competition, he gave a phenomenal performance
of works by Beethoven and Prokofiev. This combination certainly shows
the amazing versatility of this young master pianist.
Meanwhile he has played on many great stages in the world. Among others he gave highly
appreciated concerts in Berlin, Munich, London, New York, Miami, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Seoul.
Prestigious festivals invited him, such as “Klavier Festival
Ruhr”, the “Aldeburgh Festival”, “La Roque d’Anthéron” in France and the
“Gilmore Festival”,
Michigan/USA.
In 2009 he participated again in the “Miami International Piano Festival” and, later the year,
in the famous “Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival”. For 2012 he is invited again for the
series “Meesterpianisten” in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
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