Susanne Kessel, resident of Bonn (Germany) is known for her unusual concert and CD programs.
Numerous solo CDs document her playing (Oehms Classics, OBST, BMG, arte nova, KESSEL productions). She plays classical as well as contemporary piano literature. She has premiered many piano works which have been dedicated to her or which she has herself proposed.
She studied at Musikhochschule Köln with Pi-hsien Chen. Great musical personalities, such as Aloys Kontarsky and Peter Feuchtwanger promoted her piano playing at an early stage. She also took masterclasses with Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Rudolf Kehrer, Daniel Blumenthal, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and many other pianists. Exposure to such a rich variety of divergent yet complementary perspectives resulted in Susanne Kessel never limiting herself to just one style. Her approach is experimental and innovative.
In 1993, Susanne Kessel was a prize winner of the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund. Other prizes, grants and honours followed quickly. She plays solo-recitals and has toured in Europe and the USA. Together with composer and percussionist Leon Milo (1956-2014) she played music for piano, percussion and electronics in Duo Pianowaves.
She played the music for several film productions. For the movie Blueprint (director: Rolf Schübel, 2004) she performed the entirety of the classical music soundtrack and doubled for actress Franka Potente in front of the camera in the role of a world famous pianist who lets herself be cloned.
Susanne Kessel is active in the conception and organisation of music projects. Together with composer David P. Graham, she developed the composition-project Premiere! for young composers and young musicians which takes place regularly in Bonn and Düsseldorf. In 2000, she staged the Bonn series Jahr-100-Klavier-Stücke (100 piano works of the century) together with composer Michael Denhoff. They presented 50 concerts with more than 40 pianists showcased the piano music of the twentieth century. She teaches a private piano class in Bonn and serves on the jury of several competitions for young musicians. She belongs to the staff of Datenbank für Neue Musik der Bundesakademie Trossingen.
Susanne Kessel is the initiator, pianist, organiser, editor, and co-publisher of the International Composition Project 250 piano pieces for Beethoven.
Works of Susanne Kessel that are being published by Editions Musica Ferrum:
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- Piano
250 piano pieces for Beethoven vol. 5
- £28.00
- The fifth volume of the "250 piano pieces for Beethoven" project, initiated and organised by Susanne Kessel, in Bonn.
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