Michael Hänschke

* 1969 in Moers; pianist; began playing the piano at the age of four and studied from 1990 to 1995 at the Musikhochschule Köln in the master class of the Russian pianist Pavel Gililov; he completed his studies with the final examination (Reifeprüfung). Solo recitals and chamber music evenings took him to Poland, Luxembourg and Italy. From 1990 he was pianist of the Henze-Kammerensemble, which the composer Bernd Hänschke had founded in 1989. In 1991 he and the Luxembourg cellist Jean Halsdorf came together as the Duo Halsdorf-Hänschke, which won first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition “Palma d’Oro” in Finale Ligure in 1994. On the album Changeant (1995) he plays, with Jean Halsdorf, Beethoven’s Sonata in G minor op. 5 No. 2, Schostakowitsch’s Sonata in D minor op. 40 and Bernd Hänschke’s “Changeant II”, dedicated to the duo.