"The Bechstein, on which I received most of my piano training, is both tradition and innovation."
- Jan Gerdes
Jan Gerdes is one of the most interesting and versatile pianists of his generation. As a multi-award-winning pianist between tradition and avant-garde, he is a master of both the classical-romantic and contemporary repertoire. In his recital programmes, he plays Bach's Goldberg Variations as well as Karlheinz Stockhausen's piano pieces. Jan Gerdes studied piano at the conservatories in Hanover and Detmold with professors Kurt Bauer, Nerine Barett and Renate Kretschmar-Fischer and attended masterclasses with other well-known pianists such as Anatol Ugorski, Halina Czerny-Stefanska and Edith Picht-Axenfeld. An international concert career has taken the award-winning artist to many European countries, South America and the Far East. He has performed at famous festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and Beethovenfest Bonn and has appeared in major concert halls such as the Berliner Konzerthaus, Kölner Philharmonie, Essener Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Wien, Freiburger Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Alte Oper Frankfurt and Berliner Philharmonie.
He made various CD, television and radio recordings for NDR, WDR, MDR, HR, RB, ORF, Deutschland Radio Berlin and the Ambitus label. In 2008, his first solo-recording ´Gelände/Zeichnung` with the latest contemporary piano music was released on Zeitklang label. 2023 he published an album with the complete recording of miniatures for piano by Düsseldorf composer Johannes Sandberger, followed by an album of contemporary African piano music by Genuin Classics in 2024.
"The sound of Bechstein reminds of the golden age of the piano, but it also has a powerful presence in modern times."
Gerdes has worked with various leading contemporary composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann and Peter Ruzicka and has premiered many works by renowned composers such as Sidney Corbett, Peter Gahn, Brice Pauset, Moritz Eggert, Annette Schlünz, Markus Bongartz, or Marcus Antonius Wesselmann.
Presently he lives in Berlin and teaches piano at the Institute for Aesthetic Education and new/experimental music at the University of Potsdam. He taught contemporary piano music at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory of Music in Berlin and the Mozarteum Salzburg, as well as improvisation at the Mannheim University of Music, the University of Liverpool, contemporary song at the Detmold University of Music.
"The Bechstein grand piano is far more than a perfect high-performance instrument; it requires each artistic individual to mould it into a unique tonal personality under his or her own hands."
Photo: © Shai Levy
