Thomas Leander

* 1960 in Düsseldorf; pianist and university teacher; studied piano in Düsseldorf, London and Vienna; professor of piano and, for a time, vice-rector at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf; appearances as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide. The son of an opera singer, he completed his studies with the Konzertexamen with distinction and received the music promotion prize of the city of Düsseldorf in 1984. Since 1995 he has taught as professor of piano and chamber music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, of which he was vice-rector from 2010 and which he has headed as rector since 2023. As a song accompanist he has worked with Hermann Prey, Karl Ridderbusch, Robert Gambill and Mario Hoff; in 2014 he received the Josef-Neuberger-Medaille of the Jewish Community of Düsseldorf for the project “Entartete Musik – Willkommen in Deutschland”. Five albums connect him with Cybele, all recorded between 1995 and 2001: The Last Three Piano Sonatas by Haydn (1995), Russian Piano Quintets (1998), the chamber music programme Incontri – Encounters for flute and piano (2000) and both volumes of Carl Reinecke’s Complete Children’s Songs with soprano and mezzo-soprano (2001).