Rolf-Dieter Arens

Born in 1945 in Zinnwald, Germany, Rolf-Dieter Arens was already taking piano lessons at the age of five. He studied piano and chamber music at the music academy “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig and attended master classes given by Paul Badura-Skoda. From 1986 until 1991, he was a regular soloist with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and toured Europe with them. He has also had concert appearances all over the world both as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. In 1995 he founded the chamber association “Weimar Soloists”. Arens has worked with such renowned conductors as Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, Marek Janowski and Neville Marriner. He has taken part in numerous radio broadcasts and has made recordings for television and CD productions. Arens has also been active as a jury member at important international piano competitions, such as the the “Bach” of Lipsia, the “Beethoven” of Vienna, the “Casagrande” of Terni and the “Liszt” of Budapest, Utrecht and Weimar.
The name Franz Liszt also pops up frequently in the life of Arens: from 1986 until 2012, he has been professor of piano at the LISZT SCHOOL of Music Weimar, and has been the school’s president from 2001 until 2010. Since 2000, he is artistic director of the International FRANZ LISZT Piano Competition Weimar – Bayreuth, and has been artistic director of several Liszt festivals including the Thuringian Liszt-year 2011. Since 2006, he is founding member of the NEW LISZT FOUNDATION. In 2011, he was awarded the “Premio Liszt” in Grottamare (Italy). In addition, Rolf-Dieter Arens was artistic director of the summer music academy at the Hundisburg castle from 1993 until 1999 and again since 2007. As president of the “Culture Foundation Leipzig”, his latest project was the creation of a permanent Wagner exhibition in the Nikolai church in the birth town of the composer that opened up in May 2013. In 2014, Arens was awarded the “Thuringian order of merit”. In the academic year 2014/15 Rolf-Dieter Arens will be guest professor for piano at the Mahidol University in Bangkok (Thailand).