Projects
Composers Project
Open to new developments in classical music, Sebastian Knauer repeatedly commissions compositions.
Together with the composer Arash Safaian he produced and interpreted ÜBERBACH which was awarded an ECHO KLASSIK.
His project THIS IS (NOT) BEETHOVEN, also composed by Arash Safaian for him, was released in August 2020 also by BMG/Modern Recordings and immediately scored #6 in the German Classical Charts and #15 in the US Billboard Charts.
For his latest project “THE MOZART NYMAN CONCERT”, which was released on June 4th, 2021 also with BMG/Modern Recordings he comissioned the internationally acclaimed composer Michael Nyman to compose 6 piano pieces for him.
Wort trifft Musik
Being a visonary himself, Sebastian Knauer is always open to new genres.
For instance, in 2000 he launched a series called “Wort trifft Klassik” (the spoken word meets classical music) with the German actress Hannelore Elsner (1942-2019), including a programme he devised, entitled “George Sand and Frédéric Chopin – A Winter on Mallorca, the truth!”.
Since then he has pursued over 50 further projects of this kind with actors such as Martina Gedeck, Hannelore Hoger, Iris Berben, Katja Riemann, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Ulrich Tukur.
Internationale Musikfestwoche Bad Berleburg
In 2017, Sebastian Knauer took over as artistic director of the Internationale Musikfestwoche Bad Berleburg. Every year, he hosts the great and the good of chamber music at Schloss Berleburg, the residence of Princess Benedikte, sister of the Danish queen.
mozart@augsburg
In 2012 Sebastian Knauer founded his own festival called “mozart@augsburg” and took on its artistic directorship at the same time. The festival in Augsburg, a city which has close ties with Mozart, has already featured artists such as Philippe Entremont, Mariss Jansons, Sir Roger Norrington, Menahem Pressler, András Schiff, Arcadi Volodos, Martin Stadtfeld, Lars Vogt, Daniel Hope, Christian Tetzlaff, Emanuel Pahud, Jan Vogler, the Emerson String Quartet, Artemis Quartet, Hagen Quartet, Hannelore Elsner, Klaus Maria Brandauer, the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich,Vienna and Paris chamber orchestras.
Ludwig Fun Beethoven
Together with the city of Aachen, Sebastian Knauer planned a festival in the Beethoven anniversary year 2020. Due to the Corona crisis, this was now postponed to 2021.