Katharina Sellheim is a German classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, with a focus on

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

accompaniment. She has appeared in recitals internationally, collaborating with members of the

Münchner Philharmoniker The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...

, and has been a lecturer at the

Musikhochschule Hannover A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

Career

Born in the daughter of the cellist Friedrich-Jürgen Sellheim, Katharina appeared in public first in 1994, with her father. A year later she won first prize in the national competition

Jugend musiziert ''Jugend musiziert'' is a music competition for children and adolescents in Germany on regional, federal and national level. ''Jugend musiziert'' in Germany In Germany, the nationwide competition refers to young adults up to 20 years and for t ...

in two categories, piano solo and vocal accompaniment. Sellheim studied at the

with

Karl-Heinz Kämmerling Karl-Heinz Kämmerling (6 May 1930 – 14 June 2012) was a notable German academic teacher of classical pianists, who trained pianists at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover for careers as performer ...

and

Markus Becker Marcus Becker (born 11 September 1981 in Merseburg) is a German slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1996 to 2011. He won a silver medal in the C2 event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Becker won six medals at the ...

, and in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot with

Germaine Mounier Germaine Mounier (7 February 1920 – 27 June 2006) was a 20th-century French classical pianist and music educator. Biography Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Mounier won First prize at the Conservatoire de Paris. She worked the piano with Yves Nat an ...

. She studied further with

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he performed w ...

, Eckart Sellheim,

Norman Shetler Norman Shetler (16 June 1931 – 25 June 2024) was an American-born pianist, puppeteer, puppet constructor and piano professor who lived most of his adult life in Austria. Life and career Norman Shetler was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on 16 June 1931. ...

and

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...

. She received a scholarship of the

Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes The German Academic Scholarship Foundation (German: , or ''Studienstiftung'' for short) is Germany's largest and most prestigious scholarship foundation. According to its statutes, it supports "the university education of young people who, on ac ...

and the

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organis ...

. She achieved the first prize of the GEDOK competition in 2002. Sellheim has accompanied prize-winners of competitions, such as the double bassist Nabil Shehata (

ARD Competition The ARD International Music Competition () is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and is held once a year in Munich, usually in September. Since its inception in 1952, it h ...

) and the violinist Fumiaki Miura (Joseph Joachim Competition). She accompanied at master classes including their concerts of Fischer-Dieskau with lieder by

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (; ; 13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, so ...

on poems by Mörike and Goethe. She has played with her brother, the violist

Konstantin Sellheim Konstantin Sellheim (born 1978) is a German classical violist, who has appeared internationally with a focus on chamber music. He is a violist of the Münchner Philharmoniker, and lecturer of viola at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Career ...

as the Duo Sellheim. They recorded a CD, ''Fantasy'', of works by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

and Rebecca Clarke. Their combination of Hindemith's '' Fantasie-Sonate'', Op. 11/4, Clark's Viola Sonata (both 1919), and Schumann's '' Fantasiestücke'', Op. 73, and his ''

Märchenbilder ''Märchenbilder'' or ''Fairy Tale Pictures'', for Piano and Viola, Op. 113, was written by Robert Schumann in March 1851. The work is dedicated to the German violinist and conductor Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski. It consists of four character pi ...

'', Op. 113, was received as illuminating relations in music history. With the clarinetist László Kuti, they have performed as the Sellheim-Kuti-Trio. She has performed as part of the Klaviertrio Hannover with violinist Lucja Madziar and cellist Johannes Krebs, including concerts at the

Beethovenfest The Beethovenfest ('Beethoven Festival') is a festival of classical music in Bonn, Germany, dedicated mostly to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven who was born there. It dates back to 1845, when the composer's 75th anniversary of birth was celebra ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, the

Elbphilharmonie The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. The new construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave ...

in Hamburg where they played Beethoven's

Piano Trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

, Op. 1/3, '' Bells of Beyond'' by Graham Waterhouse, Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2. and Rachmaninovs ''Trio élégiaque'' No. 2. Together with the Klaviertrio Hannover and her brother Konstantin Sellheim, viola, she recorded a CD of Beethoven's Piano Quartets, WoO 36 1-3 and Op. 16a (in collaboration with Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk and record label Genuin). The contemporary composer

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, '' Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and '' Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and str ...

engaged her to record his new CD Skylla and Charybdis (record label Farao Classics) together with the composer, the violinists

David Frühwirth David Frühwirth (born 15 June 1974) is an Austrian classical violinist. He has played internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, with a focus on contemporary music which he also recorded. He has given international master classes. Life a ...

and Namiko Fuhse and her brother

, viola. Sellheim has collaborated with members of the

. She has been lecturer at the Musikhochschule Hannover from 2007. She gave masterclasses in China and Estonia, among others. On an invitation by the Barenboim–Said Academy, she lectured in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

References

External links

*
Klaviertrio Hannover
highresaudio.com * *
Sellheim Katharina, Germany, 2005
wupromotion.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sellheim, Katharina University of Music and Theatre Munich alumni German women classical pianists 1976 births Living people Musicians from Lower Saxony 21st-century German classical pianists 21st-century German women pianists