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The German pianist, Martin Stadtfeld, made his concert debut at the age of only nine. He was 13 when he began to study with Lev Natochenny at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt. The list of his competition successes begins with the "Jugend musiziert" Competition organised by the German Federal government. In 1997 he won the Nikolai Rubinstein Piano Competition in Paris and in 2001 caused a sensation as finalist in the Busoni Competition in Bolzano.
In 2002 Martin Stadtfeld was the first Federal German pianist to win the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. This is a competition that can look back on a long and venerable tradition, but no first prize had been awarded for 14 years. Winning it led to invitations to appear at leading Bach festivals as Bachwoche Ansbach, Bachwoche Stuttgart and Köthener Bach Festtage as well as other important festivals at home and abroad. Concert appearances have taken him to the principal centres of music in Europe, the USA and Japan. He was described by Die Zeit as "exceptionally talented". Among his chamber music partner is the cellist Jan Vogler.
Martin Stadtfeld records exclusively for Sony Classical. His debut recording of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) appeared in 2003 and was not only highly praised in the press but soon shot to the top of the German Classical charts. In October 2004 this CD earned the pianist the Echo Classical Award as "Young Artist of the Year". His second recording was released under the title Bach Pur and included J.S. Bach's three-part Inventions and Italian Concerto, together with transcriptions by Ferruccio Busoni and Alexander Siloti. It too topped the German Classical Charts and in 2005 received a further Echo Classical Award, this time as Solo Recording of the Year. At the end of 2005, just in time for the year of Mozart-celebrations, Martin Stadtfeld released the Piano Concertos Nos. 20 + 24; his CD "Kleine Stücke" (small pieces by J.S. Bach and Robert Schumann) was published in February 2006. His latest CD: Bach - Piano Concertos. |
