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The German pianist and teacher, Klaus Hellwig, studied with Detlef Kraus, Pierre Sancan in Paris, Guido Agosti at the Accademia Chigiana Siena and Wilhelm Kempff. He first came to international attention after winning prizes at the "Marguérite Long - Jacques Thibaud" competition in Paris and the "Viotti" competition in Vercelli/Italy.
Klaus Hellwig has given concerts throughout Europe, the USA and Canada, Australia, Brazil, the Middle-East, and the Far East. He has appeared as soloist with important orchestras, such as the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin (formerly Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin), the West German Radio Orchestra Cologne, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra Munich, among many other German orchestras; the Hungarian Radio Orchestra Budapest, the Bucharest and Cracow Philharmonic Orchestras; the Baltimore and San Francisco Symphonies, among many others in America; and several Japanese and Korean orchestras.
Klaus Hellwig's chamber music partners have included the Philharmonic Octet and the principal wind players of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Cleveland Orchestra's Octet, and the violinists Christiane Edinger and Young-Uck Kim. In addition, he has performed extensively with pianist Mi-Joo Lee as a piano duo.
After ten years as a professor at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen, Klaus Hellwig began teaching in 1980 at the Berlin University of the Arts. He has given masterclasses in Germany, France, the Ukraine, Rumania, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Australia, and the USA. He has served as a jury member in many international competitions, such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Leeds, the ARD competition in Munich (solo and piano duo), the "Busoni" in Bolzano, the Vienna Beethoven competition, the "Viotti" in Vercelli/Italy, the "Robert Schumann" in Zwickau, the “William Kapell” at the University of Maryland, “José Iturbi” in Valencia, the Seoul “Dong-A”, and the Sendai (Japan) competition; others include those in Monza, Seregno, and Orléans. In 2007 he will be on the juries of the "Tchaikovsky" (Moscow) and "Perlemuter" (Concours Européen de Ouistreham, France) competitions, in 2008 the "Schumann" (Zwickau) and Santander. Meanwhile, his students continue to garner top honors at major international competitions, including first prizes at the Gina Bachauer and Queen Elizabeth Competitions.
Klaus Hellwig has recorded for all German radio stations, and for many others abroad. He appears on more than 25 records; the latest releases were the four concerti by Carl Reinecke. |
