Marc-André Hamelin

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin is hailed by critics worldwide as a unique performer, combining refined musicianship and technical aplomb in one artistic personality. For many years he has been forging through piano territory that was previously almost unknown, performing and recording the music of Ives, Kapustin, Grainger, Roslavets, Godowsky, Reger, Villa-Lobos, Szymanowski and Shechedrin. Recently he has been also recording well-known masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Chopin. His own impressive solo piano compositions provide further evidence of his outstanding technical abilities, his knowledge of musical styles and his readiness to tread new paths. Hamelin has appeared with many of the world’s most renowned orchestras. He records exclusively for Hyperion, which has released more than 50 of his albums. Hamelin has been nominated nine times for the Grammy Award, and has received a number of further international prizes. In 2013 Marc-André Hamelin was awarded the annual Prize of the Ruhr Piano Festival, where he performed for the first time in 1997.HERBERT SCHUCHBorn in 1979 in the Romanian town of Temesvar (Timisoara), Herbert Schuch emigrated with his family in 1988 to Germany, where he has lived ever since. He was trained by great professors such as the late Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at Salzburg Mozarteum, and Alfred Brendel is one of his mentors. The international music scene opened its doors to him when he won three important competitions within the space of one year (including the Vienna International Beethoven Competition) in 2005. Schuch was thus invited to perform at Salzburg Festival, then at the Ruhr Piano Festival in 2006. Apart from having appeared with conductors of the likes of Pierre Boulez, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Jonathan Nott, Schuch has recorded seven CDs to date for the OehmsClassics label. Moreover, recordings of his performances at the Ruhr Piano Festival can be found in Vols. 14 and 18 of the Edition Klavier-Festival Ruhr. Herbert Schuch volunteers for “Rhapsody in School”, an organisation founded by Lars Vogt with the goal of kindling greater interest among schoolchildren for classical music. 2014 marked the seventh time Schuch was invited to perform at the Ruhr Piano Festival.