Charlotte Steppes studies at HMT Leipzig “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” since 2018 with Prof. Josef Christof, whose student she already became at the age of 12. She played piano concerts by Ravel, Robert and Clara Schumann, Poulenc, Beethoven and Mozart. As a highlight 2020 Steppes gave her debut with the renowned MDR symphony orchestra, playing Mozarts piano concerto C major KV 467. In 2023 a cooperation with violinist Frank-Michael Erben (1st concertmaster of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) developed in several duo recitals. Furthermore she made her debut at the chamber music festival “con spirito”. The young pianist worked together with e.g. the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Gewandhaus wind quintett, several organists and the Gewandhaus choir and played in the concert series musica nova, at Musikfest Erzgebirge and at Bachfest Leipzig.

In spring 2024, she is going to follow another invitation from the MDR symphony orchestra and play Griegs piano concerto with chief conductor Dennis Russell Davies. Also, she will perform the soloist part in Charles Ives’ 4 th symphony and Mendelssohns 1st piano concerto in the Gewandhaus Leipzig. In June, she makes her debut at Musikfest Stuttgart with a new solo recital.

Steppes is highly interested in New and Contemporary Music, Chamber Music and the playing of orchestra piano. For two concert seasons starting 2021, she has been member of the orchestra-academy of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Since 2023, she receives a scholarship by the “Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung” Hamburg.

https://konstanze-pietschmann.com

Konstanze Pietschmann is a cellist from Leipzig. After studying in the young talent promotion class of Anna Niebuhr at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy " in Leipzig, she began her music studies in the class of Prof. Peter Bruns at the same university in 2018. After numerous first prizes at "Jugend musiziert " at the national level, participation in major international competitions followed, including the "Concours Reine Elisabeth " in Brussels. Among others, she was awarded 3rd prize at the International Dotzauer Competition, 1st prize at the International Cello Competition "Anna Kull " in Graz, the "International Suggia Award " in Porto and most recently 1st prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in Berlin.

She made her debut as a soloist in 2019 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig with the Cello Concerto by Robert Schumann. This was followed by concerts with the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, “Konzerthausorchester” Berlin, the Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto, the award- winning ensemble LGT Young Soloists and others. Several chamber music concerts have already taken Konstanze to the concert halls of Portugal, Italy, Ethiopia, Hungary, Greece, Israel, the USA and many more. In 2021 she founded the chamber orchestra “Camerata Espansiva!” to give young soloists a stage.

She regularly participates in master classes and festivals. At the Geneva String Academy, Musique a Flaine and “Con Spirito” Festival she shared the stage with musicians such as Sergey Ostrovsky, Noemie Bialobroda, Tobias Feldmann, Pauline Sachse, Andrej Bielow and Christophe Poiget. In addition to master classes with Peter Bruns, Alfred Brendel, Marc Coppey, Wolfgang Böttcher, Norman Fischer, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet) and members of the Quatuor Ysaÿe, Konstanze received important impulses from Wen-Sinn Yang and Anne Gastinel.

Since 2019, Konstanze Pietschmann has been a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Leipzig e.V. association. She has also received scholarships from the Jütting Foundation, the Harald Genzmer Foundation and Musique à Flaine. Konstanze plays a cello by Charles Gaillard (Paris, 1867) from the German Musical Instrument Fund of the “Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben”.