Max Philip Klüser

"The listener makes the acquaintance of an immensely talented, still little-known pianist who has a sense of color and nuance and makes each of the works recorded here a treat."

"It is clear that this pianist is a great creator and really has sound in his fingers."  

- Pizzicato Magazin, Alain Steffen

Born 1994, the German pianist Max Philip Klüser first began to learn playing the trumpet, before he commenced on his piano education at the age of twelve. 2007, he was accepted as a student of both instruments in the pre-college programme at the Robert-Schumann-Conservatory (RSH) in Düsseldorf, Germany. Even though being a laureate of numerous national trumpet competitions already in his early youth, he decided to focus his musical education on the piano at the age of 20.
Highlights of the previous seasons include concerts at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Arlberg1800 Concert Hall, Solitär Salzburg and the Robert-Schumann-Saal Düsseldorf as well as performances at prestigious music festivals such as Heidelberger Frühling, Allegra-Festival Bulgaria, Düsseldorf Festival! or the International Holland Music Session. As a soloist he played with orchestras including "Neuen Philharmonie Westfalen" and the Sinfonisches Orchester Ravensburg.

In January 2024 his debut album "Reflections", featuring works by Szymanowski, Schubert, Mozart, Godowsky and a first recording of Jörg Widmanns "Sonatina facile" has been released on the ARS Produktion label in a collaboration with quintessenz artists, Munich. It received critical acclaim and was awarded the ’supersonic audio award' by Pizzicato Magazine.

Apart from his solo activities, Max Philip Klüser is an enthusiastic chamber musician. In 2019 and 2021, he was invited as chamber musician and assistant professor to the Allegra Festival & Academy in Bulgaria, where he performed in concerts with Albena Danailova (concert master of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) und Diyang Mei (1. prize winner ARD- Competition, Viola). Likewise, he was an assistant professor at the Spanish festival La Ribera sueña a Clásico in 2015 and 2016, performing together with German violinist Professor Andreas Krecher and the solocellist of the Düsseldorf Symphonic Orchestra, Nikolaus Trieb. This engagement in chamber music and the opera has led in the co-foundation of the Ábo- Pianoquartet and the Klangkollektiv Düsseldorf in 2018. Moreover, he is regularly performing with the German soprano Xenia von Randow. Since recently, Max Philip Klüser is also increasingly engaged in conducting. In 2018, he was the musical assistant and co-conductor of an opera production of Mozart’s “The abduction from the Serail” at the Schlossfestspiele Zwingenberg. 
Over the last years, Max Philip Klüser was awarded numerous prizes and scholarships. He is a 1st prize laureate of the van Bremen piano competition in Dortmund in 2015 and was a finalist of the international Richard Strauss competition in Munich in 2016. In 2017, he has been admitted to the renowned scholarship programme for musicians granted by the German Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. Furthermore, he was scholar of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation LiveMusicNow and was awarded both a 1st prize as well as the special prize of the Hindemith Foundation at the German national youth competition in 2013.

During his Bachelor studies, he worked with both Professor Boguslaw Jan Strobel in Düsseldorf and Professor Gilead Mishory in Freiburg, before being awarded his degree from the Musikhochschule Freiburg in 2018. Having been accepted at the Mozarteum Salzburg in 2018, he continued his education as a soloist master student in the renowned class of Professor Jacques Rouvier. After being awarded his degree in 2021 he was accepted to continue his studies with Professor Rouvier for a postgraduate diploma. Although still being a student himself, he has been offered the position of an assistant professor at the RSH Düsseldorf, which he commenced in 2019.