Pianist

Jonas Stark, winner of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2022, has performed extensively through all major German cities, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, China and Australia. As a soloist in piano concertos he appeared with the Heidelberger Philharmoniker, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Münchener Kammerorchester and Haydn Philharmonie under the baton of Marin Alsop, Marcus Bosch, Martin Fratz, Dietger Holm and Kahchun Wong.

Further achievements include the 1st prize at ‘Concours Musical de France’ in Paris in 2009, the 2nd prize at the International Rachmaninov Piano Competition in Frankfurt 2010, an advancement award at the International Piano Competition Ettlingen, the 1st prize at ‘Nachwuchswettbewerb für junge Pianisten’ in Trier in 2014, the 1st federal prize and two special prizes at ‘Jugend musiziert’ in 2014, a 1st prize at the International Piano Competition FLAME 2017 in Paris, the 1st prize at the Walter Gieseking competition 2017, the 3rd prize at the International Schubert Competition Dortmund in 2021 and a special prize at the ARD International Music Competition Munich in 2022.

Moreover, Jonas twice received the special award of his state for outstanding solo performance and became Young Steinway Artist in 2021.

Alongside his studies, Jonas has attended masterclasses by Konrad Elser, Leslie Howard, Peter Frankl, Dmitri Bashkirov, Robert McDonald, John Perry, Christopher Elton, Pascal Devoyon, Dmitri Alexeev, Steven Osborne, Adrian Brendel, Imogen Cooper, Martin Helmchen, Arie Vardi, Janina Fialkowska, Anna Malikova, Bernd Goetzke, Grigory Gruzman and Midori.

Jonas Stark, now 25 years old, started piano lessons with Jelena Semenenko when he was five years old. After his Bachelor of Music at the HfM Saar, Germany with Professor Thomas Duis in 2018 he studied Master and Professional Diploma with Professor Ian Fountain at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since 2021 Jonas is studying Soloklasse with Professor Roland Krüger at the HMTM Hanover where he is also holding a teaching position for piano since 2023.

Jonas is scholar of the Jürgen Ponto foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the Hans-and-Ruth-Giessen-Foundation and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.