Kai Schumacher

Kai Schumacher received his first piano lessons at the age of five, his first public performance was at the age of seven, and his orchestral debut (with Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto) took place when he was 15. At first glance, the classic story of a young prodigy. But the piano was for him in the true sense of the word a plaything and not some piece of sports equipment; music was a passion and not a discipline. After receiving his school diploma, Schumacher was accepted at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (Germany) – even though at that point he had attended more punk rock events than symphony concerts. He was awarded the Folkwang piano prize and was given a prize by the Köhler-Osbahr Foundation; Schumacher played his concert examination in 2009, which received the citation, “outstanding.” In addition to his studies with Till Engel, he worked with the American pianist Guy Livingston in Amsterdam, and studied chamber music with Andreas Reiner.

As a result, Kai Schumacher’s repertory places special emphasis on contemporary American music for the piano. In addition to numerous European premiere performances, he works closely with composers of the younger generation: for example in his project “Darling, I’m indeed useless to you – 12 Variations without Amanda Palmer” (premiere January 2009) for which 12 composers, ranging from jazz to avant-garde, wrote one variation each based on a theme composed by Kai Schumacher.

In cooperation with the Duisburg Philharmonic, he is developing new forms for concert presentation, mixing classic and contemporary piano music with rock music and electronic sounds, also using light and video installations to form a collage that attracts younger audiences and older critics as well. Crossover as a well-considered experiment, not merely cheap provocation. But Kai Schumacher is not only active as a proponent of modern music; he also concertizes regularly as a soloist, as the pianist of the Trio Kayana, and as a keyboard player with the rock band Trustgame (with some 250 concerts in Germany, England, Poland, and South Korea).