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The German pianist and conductor, Justus Frantz, began playing piano at the age of 10 and later studied with Eliza Hansen and Wilhelm Kempff at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg under a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, or German National Scholarship Foundation. When 23 years old, he was one of the youngest ever to receive this scholarship. In 1967, Frantz and Claus Kanngießer won the second prize at the international music competition of the ARD playing as a cello and piano duo, marking the beginning of his international career.
Justus Frantz rose to number among the very top, international pianists in 1970 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. In 1975, he played in his USA debut concert with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, who became his lifelong friend. Other conductors with whom he has played include Carlo Maria Giulini and Rudolf Kempe.
Justus Frantz is a name that one associates with outstanding orchestras and an absolute commitment to music. He has been an internationally successful pianist and conductor for more than thirty years. He has served classical music countless times: by constantly discovering and nurturing young music talents. Therefore foreign tours of the Philarmonie der Nationen Auditions (Vorpiele) in many countries take a firm place in his schedule - for young musicians worldwide, it’s an excellent chance at the beginning of a musical career. He invited the violinist Midori Gotō, Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Repin and pianist Evgeny Kissin as young talents for the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and paved the way for them as a great career. In St. Petersburg he chose the unknown Anna Netrebko to sing in his production of W.A. Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Susanna. He discovered the young violinist and composer Martin Panteleev and brought his compositions for the first time on stage.
Justus Frantz always manages to give an unconventional way to a broad audience access to classic music. In 1986 he initiated the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, whose directing manager he was for nine years, and that he made into one of the worlds greatest music festivals. Leonard Bernstein’s dream of a young, international, multi-cultural, and above all, professional orchestra inspired Justus Frantz to found the Philarmonie der Nationen in 1995, and he has been its Principal Conductor and Music Director to the present day. From September 2013, he serves as Musical Director of The Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba. He also works regularly with renowned orchestras all over the world, such as the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Great Moscow Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, KwaZulu-Natal, Durban Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia and Georgian Chamber Orchestra. Frantz mostly plays music from the Classical and Romantic periods, particularly by W.A. Mozart. He has played many pieces for piano duet or four hands with Christoph Eschenbach.
Justus Frantz became a UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) Goodwill Ambassador in 1989, a post from which he has since retired. In the same year was awarded the Great Cross of Merit. Furthermore, his ideas have been honored with several prestigious television awards.
Justus Frantz has two sons, Christopher Tainton, whom he had with pianist Carol Tainton, and Justus Konstantin Frantz, whom he had with Xenia Dubrowskaja. |
