Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf

Prof. Thomas Leander
Professor for Piano/ Chamber Music thomas.leander(at)rsh-duesseldorf.de Thomas Leander studied in Düsseldorf with Herbert Drechsel, in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda, and in London with Geoffrey Parsons and Alexis Weissenberg. After his concert examination, which he passed with distinction, he began his career as a soloist and accompanist. Thomas Leander has given piano recitals in places including San Francisco, Washington, New York, London, Rome, Salzburg, and Warsaw, and has been accompanist for Hermann Prey, Karl Ridderbusch, Robert Gambill and Mario Hoff. He has performed in such grand halls as La Scala in Milan, in the Cuvilliés theatre in Munich, and in the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as well as at festivals in Verbier, Salzburg, the Rhineland music festival and the Mozartiana festival in Moscow. A recital with Hermann Prey, with the Italian songbook by Hugo Wolf, was broadcast live on German television in 1989 across Europe. He had great success in Munich when he filled in for an ill Wolfgang Sawallisch in a recital with Prey. In 1987 Leander performed Alfred Schnittke's piano concert in Mannheim as the German première with the Robert Schumann Symphony Orchestra, followed by performances in 60 further European cities. The Berlin première of Schnittke's concert took place in the Unter den Linden opera house under the direction of Jürgen Kussmaul. Schnittke attended the Moscow concert and was delighted with Leander's interpretation. He has given concerts together with Natalia Gutman, Vladimir Spivakov, Alexander Rudin, Roberto Fabricciani, Roberto Szidon, Irina Tseitlin, Alexander Hülshoff, Wolfram Christ and Rainer Kussmaul amongst other musicians. A tour in the former USSR in 1990 as a soloist with the Minsk Chamber Orchestra took him to Moscow's Bolschoi Theatre, to St. Petersburg, Kiev and Minsk. In the Mozart Year 1991, he was invited by the Russian television for a live recording of a piano concert. Leander's concert in November 2001 was also transmitted live by Moscow Classical Radio. He has performed together with well-known German orchestras, as well as with the Russian National Orchestra, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosis, Chamber Orchestra Kremlin and the Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra. The city of Düsseldorf awarded him the music grant award. A special experience for Leander most recently was his piano recital as part of the in memoriam concerts for Svjastoslav Richter on Richter's private Steinway grand piano in Moscow, which was also broadcast by Russian television. His CDs are released by CYBELE and AMPHION Records.  In 1995, he became Professor for Piano at the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media in Düsseldorf. He gives courses and master classes in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Moscow (Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Gnessin Institute), St. Petersburg, New York and San Diego. Thomas Leander has taught students at the Institute For Music And Media since 1987. As the vice-rector of the Robert Schumann School of Music and Media in Düsseldorf, Prof. Thomas Leander has been in charge of artistic practice and promotion since November 2010.