Tobias Bigger (Piano)

Born: November 7, 1962 - Werdohl (90km to the East of Cologne), Germany

The German pianist, Tobias Bigger, won a junior state scholarship whilst still at school to study piano with Professor Helmut Weinrebe at Cologne University of Music. He then undertook further studies in piano and participated in master-classes with the internationally renowned teachers Karl-Heinz Kämmerling (Hannover, Salzburg), Vitaly Margulis (Leningrad, Freiburg im Breisgau, Los Angeles), Detlef Kraus (Essen, Hamburg) and Bernard Ringeissen (Paris).

Tobias Bigger was a prize-winner at the International Piano Competition in Senigallia (Italy) in 1982. After practising as a lawyer, in 1998 he decided to devote himself exclusively to the piano; his musical career has involved - and continues to involve - chamber music (with violinists and cellists) and Lied accompaniment as well as solo performances in Germany and abroad.

Tobias Bigger particularly enjoys playing rarely performed music, most notably virtuoso arrangements from the post-1850 period. This repertoire is the focus of his CD recordings for labels in Germany, Spain and California, which present not only solo piano music but also works for piano and violin duo (with his long-standing duo partner, the violinist Inna Kogan). Tobias Bigger's piano playing receives glowing press reviews (see below).
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Tobias Bigger pursues compositional activities alongside his concert career, writing arrangements for solo piano and for violin/piano duo. His piano transcriptions are published by Musica Obscura Editions, an American publisher specialising in rare piano repertoire.

His concert appearances are highly acclaimed:
"Fascinating in the extreme" (Schwabmünchener Zeitung)
"Lively, elegant, clean and technically flawless piano playing" - (Elbmarsch-Post, Bleckede)
"Bigger demonstrated his stupendous virtuosity...With his clear sense of rhythm and fastidious
technique, he is able to bring out those minute nuances that are the key to vibrant playing" (Augsburger Allgemeine)
"Impressive and classy... Perfection of the highest order" (Westfälische Rundschau)
"...fortunate to experience a virtuoso for whom a great career seems assured" (La Presse, Montreux).
There is equal praise for his CD recordings:
- "Sensitive and interpreted with bite... an excellent pianist" (Piano News, Düsseldorf)
"A refreshing and brave approach... fine emotion... sparkling verve" (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger)
"Outstanding interpretations, magnificent piano playing articulated with a beautiful tone" (Musica Obscura Editions, New Hampshire, USA)
"...magnificent skill on the piano, a brilliant and extremely cultivated approach to the music whilst taking pleasure in the tonal effects" (Westfalenpost)
"Bigger's playing...combines creative rigour with deeply touching exactitude... He is a pianist with a comparatively rare gift: the ability to produce an expansion of sound that does not result from a quantitative increase in volume but is instead "directed", clinging to the melodic and harmonic inflections and affecting the whole body, not just the ear, of the attentive listener. Kreisler/Rakhmaninov's "Liebesleid" was performed by the arranger himself with lithe elegance and charm, but which pianist is capable (like Bigger) of equalling or
exceeding Rakhmaninov's achievement as a pianist on today's grand pianos?" (Klassik Heute)
Der SPIEGEL magazine featured Tobias Bigger and his CD "Exquisite Rarities of Piano Music" in the article "Harmonien de luxe", the classical music portrait in the January 2005 issue of KulturSPIEGEL

Source: Brioso Recordings Website; The Artist (December 2009)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (February 2009); Tobias Bigger (December 2009)

Tobias Bigger: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works
Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Brioso Recordings: Tobias Bigger