I am very glad to be in touch with all of my former teachers.
I have sorted the list by starting with the most recent influences, honorable mentions down below.
Regular Teachers:
Prof. Sabine Simon (2024 - now)
Prof. Sabine Simon is the newly appointed professor for piano performance and piano pedagogy (also referred to as methodology) at the Berlin University of the Arts (Universität der Künste / UdK Berlin), taking over in 2024 for Prof. Linde Großmann who held this position since 1992. Similarly to her predecessor, another focus of hers is Contemporary/ Experimental Music of the 20th and 21th century on which she leads an university course for pianists with her colleague Prof. Björn Lehmann.
Like my former teacher Prof. Dr. Thomas Menrath, she regards the highly respected Hungarian piano professor György Sebők with whom she studied at India University Bloomington as her greatest influence.
She also studied with the prominent Finnish piano professor Hans Leygraf at Mozarteum Salzburg who also taught at the UdK Berlin.
In her hometown Berlin, she was the pupil of Annerose Schmidt - a star pianist in the GDR who taught at the Hanns Eisler School of Music and was the first female principal leading this institution directly after the German reunification.
Before her professorship in Berlin, she lived in Darmstadt where she was teaching in a similar position for many years at the "Akademie für Tonkunst Darmstadt" (Academy for Sound Art in Darmstadt), founded in 1851. This city is also known as a special place for Experimental Music with a long history of the “Darmstädter Ferienkurse” and a great place to be for likeminded musicians. She is also an active member of the Chopin Society in the Federal Republic of Germany (Chopin Gesellschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) which is also based in Darmstadt.
Since 2024, I study as one of the first students in her piano class as well as in her pedagogy class.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Menrath (2019-2024)
Prof. Dr. Thomas Menrath is a German piano pedagogue teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts since the early 90s.
Thomas Menrath has studied with the niece of famous piano pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus - Astrid Schmidt-Neuhaus, who published the German edition of his well-known book "The Art of Piano Playing" and was a piano professor in Cologne together with her husband and duo partner Hans-Otto Schmidt-Neuhaus whose pupils include Christoph Eschenbach, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ludwig Hoffmann and Pi-hsien Chen.
Heinrich Neuhaus himself studied in Berlin at the predecessor institution of the Berlin University of the Arts with Leopold Godowsky and is regarded as one of the most important piano professors of the 20th century who has made a significant impact on many generations of the piano school in the Soviet Union.
In Berlin, the two major influences of Thomas Menrath were his Romanian piano professor Georg Sava (student of György Halmos who studied with the famous Liszt student Emil von Sauer) and György Sebők, the renowned piano pedagogue known for his inspiring masterclasses and representing the rich Hungarian piano tradition who regularly taught Thomas Menrath as a visiting professor at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Menrath has played in a piano duet with his colleague Prof. Linde Großmann (former professor for piano methodology at the same institution, alumni of Maria Grinberg at Gnessin Institute of Music Moscow) and published a variety of different musicological papers with a psychological perspective on piano pedagogy and interpretation as he also did in his doctorate on the "unteachable as a methodological subject" in the piano method of Carl Adolf Martienssen.
I am very grateful to have spend five years in his piano class, he has been a dear friend and role model and a very honest and humane presence that gave me enough space to develop myself on my own as an artist and human in a very important time span where I made my first steps into adulthood.
Rüdiger Mühleisen (2018-2019)
Rüdiger Mühleisen is an experienced piano teacher based in Berlin well known for preparing and developing young students to a high level. He is teaching at the music school "Fanny Hensel" and in the two main music universities in Berlin, "UdK" and "Hanns Eisler". He studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Prof. Ingeborg Wunder, student of Richard Rössler who himself studied at the predecessor institution of the Berlin University of Arts with legendary Karl Heinrich Barth and Ernst Rudorff.
Rüdiger Mühleisen also studied with Prof. Georg Sava and received a very similar piano education as Prof. Dr. Thomas Menrath and was recommended to me to prepare me for his piano class. In less than a year I passed the entrance exam of the Julius-Stern-Institut - the pre-college for gifted students at the Berlin University of the Arts. I remember very relaxed and supportive lessons with him.
Daniel Selke
(2017-2018)
Daniel Selke is a pianist and conductor who teaches at the music school of the city Potsdam "J. S. Bach" and is the artistic director of the Ernst-Busch-Choir in Berlin. He studied piano with Prof. Gerald Fauth at Hanns Eisler School of Music and followed him to Leipzig University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy".
He is mostly known for his award-winning duo BRUEDER SELKE or as formerly called CEEYS which consists of him as a pianist and various other types of keyboards and his brother Sebastian who plays mostly the Cello and with whom he grew up on the east-side of the Berlin border which is a key element in their music. The Potsdam-based duo is well established in the neoclassical international scene and regularly releases acclaimed albums and music videos. In Potsdam they have successfully founded their own festival Q3Ambientenfest which brings together established and emerging artists of diverse origins and genres.
He was my first German piano teacher at a public music school after I had only experienced years of private lessons with "The three Russian ladies". I was very inspired by his eloquent and calm attitude towards music. He greatly encouraged me to express my creativity to the full extent and to develop my own individual artistic persona and to not conform to the music mainstream.
Ekaterina Tochyltseva (2016-2018)
She was the last of "The three Russian ladies" that taught me in my youth and the most demanding of them pianistically. Even though I remember her always coming about an hour late - when she did finally arrive - we worked intensely for over two or three hours with careful consideration to every single phrase. It was at this time that I simultaneously got to know the world of classical music through YouTube and have made the decision to become a pianist. Very soon, she encouraged me to continue my studies at bigger institutions and prepared me for my first competition where I received the first prize and special prize. I am especially grateful that she knew when to give me into new hands and for her selfless commitment to my pianistic development. The picture is from a class concert just before my first competition success where you can see me standing next to her other two talented students.
Elena Karmazina (2015-2016)
I remember a very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere where we explored and sight-read a lot of the most beloved piano repertoire from the classical and romantic period. The pieces where quite challenging and developed the difficulty I could manage to play even though we didn't work on it in great detail. From "The three Russian ladies", she is the most active concert visitor and remains a regular companion to interesting piano recitals in Berlin.
Elena Timofeevna: (2009-2015)
She was my very first music teacher from the age of 6 to 12 and layed the whole foundation to my artistic life. She studied music theatre at the Gnessin music school in Moscow and was the first prize winner of the national music theatre competition of the Soviet Union. I started with singing lessons at the age of six where she quickly noticed my musical talent and committed herself to develop it to the best of her ability which included teaching me to play piano at the age of seven, regularly providing me with concert opportunities where I often performed as a solo singer and pianist and encouraging me to compose my own music by teaching me how to write it down.
I unfortunately can't recall our lessons but she told me that I learned incredibly quick and effortlessly which led to a pleasant but strict lesson dynamic.
I am incredibly grateful that she combined singing with piano playing which is one of the most important principles of the Russian piano school and that she also developed my stage presence and the theatrical and choreographic aspect of music making which I got to explore soon after at the Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin as an actor, singer and dancer at their kids shows.
Honorable Mentions:
Prof. Klaus Hellwig (Masterclass 2025)
Klaus Hellwig is a world renowned piano professor who teaches a highly successful piano class at the Universität der Künste Berlin. His students have won prizes at major competitions (Queen Elisabeth Brussels, Tchaikovsky Moscow, Leeds, Rubinstein, Salt Lake (Bachauer), ARD Munich, Beethoven Bonn, Geneva, Haskil Vevey, Long-Thibaud-Crespin, Schumann Zwickau, Sydney, Busoni, Seoul, and many more). Many of the graduates from his class have gone on to teach at notable universities in Europe, Asia and the USA.
Subsequently, he also has many years of experience as a juror at competitions such as ARD Munich, Tchaikovsky Moscow, Leeds, Santander, Busoni, Geneva, Beethoven Vienna, Viotti Vercelli, Dublin, Schumann Zwickau, Orléans, Sendai, Hamamatsu, Harbin/China, Seoul, Isang Yun/Korea, and many more.
Klaus Hellwig studied with Detlef Kraus (Brahms specialist) in Essen and Pierre Sancan (important French musician and piano professor at the Conservatoire) in Paris, and also received formative inspiration in master classes with Wilhelm Kempff and Guido Agosti as well as through collegial exchanges with György Sebök during his frequent masterclasses in Berlin.
Following awards at the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris and the Viotti International Competition in Vercelli, Klaus Hellwig gave concerts all across Europe and the former Soviet Union, the Americas, Asia (especially in Japan and Korea) and Australia. His concert programs have included solo recitals, concerts with orchestra, and chamber music with many different partners.
Beyond that, his numerous recordings for radio, records and CDs encompass a large repertoire of solo literature, piano concerti, and chamber music – including the rarely played concerti by Carl Reinecke (cpo), Rhapsodie espagnole by Liszt arranged for piano and orchestra by Busoni, piano trios by Eduard Franck (with the Berlin Trio, audite) and Mendelssohn works for four hands (with Mi-Joo Lee, Darbringhaus & Grimm.)
Klaus Hellwig holds numerous master classes, in some places over many years – such as at the Verbier Festival and at the Edwin Fischer Summer Academy in Potsdam where I had the honour to be selected as a participant and to learn from him.
Ralf-Torsten Zichner
(teaching internship 2024-2025)
Ralf-Torsten Zichner is a well-rounded pianist and versatile pedagogue at the music school of the city Potsdam "J. S. Bach".
He studied at Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Hellmuth Nagel and Annerose Schmidt. During his two years abroad in Poland, he became an exchange student at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw with teachers like Lidia Kozubek, Regina Smendzianka, and Andrzej Jasiński - the teacher of Krystian Zimerman.
He also attended master classes with František Rauch, Ivan Klánský, Rudolf Kehrer, Bernard Ringeissen, Tatjana Shebanova, Jacob Lateiner, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. A particular influence for him was Viennese pianist Paul Badura-Skoda who invited him to Vienna to study in a masterclass.
Ralf-Torsten made his international debut at the age of 19 at the Rudolfinum in Prague and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He has won numerous prizes and diplomas at international piano competitions (Viotti Competition, Casagrande Competition, Smetana Competition, etc.). In 1991, he made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonic. A busy concert schedule has taken him to several European countries and to Japan.
Since 1993, he has been a Steinway Artist.
Since 2024, he is the artistic director of the Edwin-Fischer-Sommerakademie in Potsdam.
I had the pleasure to do a teaching internship in his piano class for one year and was very impressed by his practical, detailed, varied, comprehensive and quick-witted lessons for all types of students. He also helped me organize my first ever solo recital at the Johann-Sebastian-Bach Kirchengemeinde Berlin-Lichterfelde.