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The German pianist, Caspar Frantz, received his first lessons on the piano at the age of 7. After studies in Hamburg and Detmold, he studied with Professor Matthias Kirschnereit at the Rostock Musikhochschule and completed his post-graduate chamber music studies with Professor Eberhard Feltz at the Hanns Eisler University, Berlin. He further received great support due to the intense artistic collaboration with Renate Kretschmar-Fischer, Ferenc Rados, Christoph Eschenbach, András Schiff, Elisabeth Leonskaja as well as György Kurtág and Marta Kurtag. Master-classes with Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and Maria-João Pires are further highlights in his artistic development. He was awarded first prize at the German Jugend musiziert, and held scholarships from the Marie-Luise-Imbusch-Stiftung and the Deutscher Stiftung Musikleben, with the Carl-Heinz Illies Award, and is a fellow of the Villa Musica and the Horst-Rahe Foundation, Rostock.
Since his debut at the Rheingau Music Festival, Caspar Frantz has performed in Germany and abroad, in major Festivals, including the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Festspiele in Schwetzingen, Ravinia Festival, Ludwigsburger Festspiele, Schwarzwald Festival, Beethovenfest in Bonn, Gstaad Festival, Septembre Musical Montreux, Festival de Pollenca, and at the IMS, Prussia Cove. He toured South Africa with the National Youth Orchestra of Germany and has also appeared with orchestras such as the Kiel Philharmonic, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Rostock Philharmonic, Stralsund Philharmonic, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Iasi Moldova Philharmonic and the prestigious Young Soloist Ensemble Kaleidoskop from Berlin. In 2010, Frantz performed the world premiere of the C minor Piano Concerto by Friedrich von Flotow, with the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, conducted by Michael Sanderling.
Julian Arp and Caspar Frantz met at an early age (1996) and the mutual joy they took in performing music together soon led to the formation of their chamber music duo. They have gained important artistic insight and inspiration through their studies as well as from working with György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. The duo has has won a large number of prestigious awards such as the first prize at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Competition in 2006, the award for best chamber music ensemble at the Freunde junger Musiker, the first prize at the German Music Competition 2006, which included the special prize of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, as well as the first prize at the International Competition for chamber music Premio Vittorio Gui in Florence, 2006. Julian Arp and Caspar Frantz are in demand as guest artists at chamber music concerts throughout the world.Chloe Hanslip, Rainer Kussmaul, Sabine Meyer, Bryn Terfel and the Vogler String Quartet are among his chamber music partners. Since 2006, Frantz has played all L.v. Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of concerts at Castle Melschede, Westfalia.
Caspar Franz, together with Julian Arp and publisher Johannes CS Frank, is Artistic Director of the Zeitkunst Festival for contemporary Literature and Chamber Music, Berlin. Moreover, he has made two recordings highly acclaimed by the German and international press: first, a recording of Felix Mendelssohn's works for cello and piano together with Julian Arp for the label Genuin, Leipzig, as well as Piano Concertos by Joseph Haydn for the Label ARS (with Ensemble Kaleidoskop).
His future plans for 2012 include the recording of the Six French Suites (BWV 812-817) by J.S. Bach as well as the two Piano Concertos by Friedrich von Flotow (with Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen) and also a series of chamber music concerts in the Saronic Region of Greece which have been organised for the first time during summer 2011 with the aim to bring together distinguished young musicians to perform masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire. |
