Artist
Ragna Schirmer
Ragna Schirmer is considered to be one of the most interesting artists of the younger generation. Her repertoire is very comprehensive and ranges from Bach's Goldberg Variations to contemporary music.
Ragna Schirmer was educated by Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling in Hannover and by Professor Bernard Ringeissen in Paris, finishing all of her studies with top marks. She won 15 first prizes and special prizes in national and international piano competitions, including the prestigious UNISA in Pretoria, South Africa, and Senigallia, Italy. At 15, she was the youngest finalist in the history of the Busoni Competition, and at 17, she won the special prize in the German Music Council Competition. She attracted special attention in the International Johann-Sebastian-Bach Competition in Leipzig, which she won in both 1992 and 1998. As a result, she was the first pianist to receive the title "Receiver of the Bach Prize" twice.
At 28, Ragna Schirmer was appointed professor at the University for Music and Visual Arts in Mannheim.
Ragna Schirmer has appeared on the stage together with the Munich Philharmonics under Zubin Mehta, with the Camerata Salzburg under Sir Roger Norrington, with the Gürzenich Orchestra under Andrey Boreyko, the Gewandhausorchester under Herbert Blomstedt and the German Chamber Philharmonics, to name just a few. Further engagements have taken her into the most famous European concert halls and to renowned festivals such as the Piano Festival Rhein-Ruhr, the International Beethoven Festival Bonn, the MDR Music Summer and the Salzburg Festival.
Over the next season, she has been invited to Paris and Athens by Kurt Masur and the Orchestre National de France and to perform with the Radio Sinfonic Orchestra Stuttgart by Sir Roger Norrington. She will give recitals in the Musikhalle Hamburg and in the Liederhalle Stuttgart among others.
Ragna Schirmer's first CD of the Goldberg Variations appeared in May 2000 and was awarded the "Star of the Month" by the journal FonoForum, as was her Schumann CD which appeared in 2006. Her Haydn album receivewd an ECHO-Klassik award in 2003. In addition, her numerous other recordings (Chopin, Corigliano, Schnittke, Schmidt, Beethoven, Schumann) were reviewed with the highest honours throughout Europe.
www.ragnaschirmer.de