“The Bechstein grand pianos keep on surprising me with their richly colored sound that enables me to keep renewing my interpretations.”
Georg Michael Grau
Georg Michael Grau was born in Lauingen in 1989. As the winner of the Carl Bechstein Prize awarded at the 40th German Music Competition held in 2014, he enjoys continuous support from the great piano manufacturer. Georg Michael Grau (born in Lauingen in 1989) has been playing the piano since he was five. He was a pupil of Karl-Wilhelm Berger (Stuttgart) and Professor Elza Kolodin (Freiburg) and studied at Freiburg’s and Mannheim’s Universities of Music. Since September 2013, he has been working on his Master of Arts degree, supervised by Professor Ian Fountain, at London’s Royal Academy of Music. A brilliant student, he has received grants from many foundations, including the Deutscher akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD); Entrance Scholarship – Maud Hornsby Award; Grover Bennett Scholarship of the Royal Academy of Music; Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes; Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben; Sir Yehudi Menuhin “Live Music Now”; Christel-Guthörle-Stiftung; Brahmsgesellschaft Baden-Baden; Richard-Wagner-Stipendienstiftung des RWV Ulm/Neu-Ulm; Mendelssohn-Scholarships – DAAD/Hermine-Klenz Stiftung.
Georg Michael Grau has already performed as a soloist, a chamber musician and with various symphonic orchestras (Nürnberger Symphoniker, Münchner Symphoniker) in renowned venues (Munich’s Gasteig, Münchner Residenz, Philharmonie Essen – Klavierfestival Ruhr, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Nurnberg’s Meistersingerhalle, London’s Steinway Hall) and at the festival of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. He has taken part in various national and international competitions, including the 40th German Music Competition held in Bonn in 2014, where he was awarded a prize by the Carl Bechstein Foundation in the “Piano Solo” category.
Photos: © Lukas Hofstätter
