Angelika Merkle

Angelika Merkle was a pupil of Prof. Hugo Steurer in Munich and in England from age 14 until her Abitur. During this period she won first prize at the Mozart für die Jugend Competition in Augsburg, and was also a prizewinner in Germany’s national Jugend musiziert competition. In 1985 she began her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Prof. Klaus Schilde, graduating with honors and a two-year master class diploma. As a scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, she continued her training with Prof. Leonard Hokanson at Indiana University Bloomington. She pursued further studies in Lied interpretation with professors Helmut Deutsch and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Berlin, and also participated in several master classes with Brigitte Fassbaender and György Sebők.

Angelika Merkle is a prizewinner of the Munich Concert Society, Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now, and the Villa Musica Foundation. In 1994 she won first prize at the International Carlo Soliva Chamber Music Competition as well as first prize at the renowned Vittorio Gui International Competition. She can be heard as a chamber musician both in Europe (including the Concertgebouw and Louvre) and at several festivals in the U.S. and Japan. CD releases, television appearances, and radio recordings with BR, HR, RAI, Radio Suisse Romande, and in Mexico and Chile document her career. Merkle’s interpretation of Richard Strauss’ Cello Suite Op. 6 was named the best recording of the piece by Fanfare magazine.

After teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich from 1994 to 2003, Angelika Merkle has been professor for piano and chamber music at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts since October 2003. She also teaches piano and chamber music at the Karlsruhe University of Music. Merkle was appointed lecturer at the Villa Musica Foundation in 2006, and has been a member of the steering committee of the Jugend musiziert German chamber music class since 2008. Since 2012 she has directed the Master’s program in piano and chamber music at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In addition to her duties as a professor, she teaches many courses in Germany and abroad and is also involved in other educational activities. In 2014 she was named artistic director of the renowned Festeburgkonzerte chamber music series in Frankfurt am Main.