Severin Von Eckardstein

JSeverin 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 UdK ( Universität der Künste) in Berlin to take lessons with Klaus Hellwig. Following his degree in 2002, he continued his studies also at the International Piano Academy Lake Como, in Italy.

Von Eckardstein won numerous competitions, both national and international ones. Amongst these are the Hamburg Steinway Competition (1st prize in 1990), the Incontro Internazionale Giovani Pianisti in Italy (1st prize in 1991), the Arthur Schnabel Competition in Berlin (1st prize in 1998), the Feruccio-Busoni Competition in Bozen (1998), and the ARD Competition in Munich (2nd prize in 1999). In 2000, von Eckardstein received both the third prize as well as the special prize for best interpretation of contemporary music at the Leeds International Piano Competition.

During the final round of the Leeds Competition, Severin von Eckardstein had the wonderful privilege and opportunity to play with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, directed by Sir Simon Rattle. This turned out to be an extremely successful concert for the young von Eckardstein. 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 received 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. He has given concerts together with famous orchestras such as the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic or the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Prestigious festivals have invited him: “Klavier Festival Ruhr”, the “Aldeburgh Festival”, “La Roque d’Anthéron”, or the “Chopin Festival”, Duszniki Zdroj. 2005 he delighted his audience at the famous “Gilmore Festival”, Michigan/USA.

In 2005 Severin von Eckardstein gave an overwhelming recital in the prestigious Master Pianists Series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, where one critic even celebrated him as “The New Horowitz”. His debut in the Piano Hayes Series in the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., was a tremendous success as well and another important milestone on his artistic career.

In 2007 he enchanted his audience again in Concertgebouw Amsterdam. A wonderful response he got as well in the “Miami Piano Festival” and later the year in Yale University where he performed in the prestigious “Horowitz Piano Series”.

back