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The German pianist, Markus Becker, studied with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and gained additional inspiration with Alfred Brendel. In 1987 he won first prize at the international Brahms Competition in Hamburg. This was followed by numerous awards in Germany and elsewhere (Athens, Cologne, Oslo, Berlin).
Today his concert tours take Markus Becker to the internationally most important halls: Alice-Tully-Hall/New York, St. John´s Smith Square/London, Theatre des Champs Elysees/Paris, Teatro Municipal/Sao Paolo, Mozarteum Salzburg, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Berlin Philharmony, Prinzregententheater Munich and Cologne Philharmony. His regular Festival-appearances include: Salzburg, Berlin, Montpellier, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Kissinger Sommer, Schleswig-Holstein-Festival, Beethovenfeste Bonn.
Markus Becker plays with Orchestras such as: the Berliner Philharmoniker, the radio orchestras of several German broadcasting stations, the Bochum Symphonic Orchestra, the Halle Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kölner Kammerorchester, the Heidelberg Symphonic and worked under conductors such as: Claudio Abbado, Alun Francis, Carlos Kalmar, Bernhard Klee, Lutz Köhler, Othmar Maga, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Steven Sloane and Thomas Fey. His chamber music-partners are: Kolja Blacher, Stefan Dohr, Alban Gerhardt, Viviane Hagner, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Albrecht Mayer, Alyssa Park, Ludwig Quandt and Majella Stockhausen.
Markus Becker has been a Professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover since 1993.
Following his acclaimed CD debut with the f sharp minor Sonatas of Johannes Brahms and Schumann and further recordings for harmonia mundi and EMI classics, Markus Becker recorded the first complete edition of Max Reger's piano works (Thorofon). This series of 12 CD's has been awarded the "Deutscher Schallplattenpreis” and the "ECHO-KLASSIK-Prize 2000” for the best Solo-recording of music from the 19th century. |
