Biography
Anja Woschick is one of the most interesting and unique pianists of her generation who knows how to enthrall audience and critics through her magical stage presence as well as the authenticity and depth of her playing.
She has established herself as a Scriabin interpreter and in her concerts she likes to put a virtuoso Russian piano repertoire to focus - from late Romanticism to Russian Avant-Garde.
While growing up in Eastern Germany (Leipzig), her exceptional talent was recognized very early and was soon thereafter supported by government aid for highly gifted children.
At the age of 13, she made her debut as a soloist playing Haydn's Keyboard Concerto in F, Hob. XVIII/F2 in the Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) in Leipzig. When she was 15 years old, she won the first prize at the "Little Robert Schumann Competition" ("Kleiner Robert-Schumann-Wettbewerb") in Zwickau and continued her musical education at the University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig.
In addition to her classical training as a concert pianist, Anja Woschick also took lessons in improvisation and jazz.
In addition to her classical training as a concert pianist, Anja Woschick also took lessons in improvisation and jazz.
In 1985 she emigrated to Switzerland and continued her studies at the University of Arts, taking classes taught by Jürg von Vintschger and Homero Francesch. She managed to deepen her special interest in Russian Music by taking international master classes taught by renowned pianists and pedagogues of the "Heinrich Neuhaus School," such as V. Margulis, Esther Yellin, W. Krainjew and Prof. Vera Gornostajewa, a teacher at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (Teacher of I. Pogerelich, A. Paley, A.
Slobodjanik) who would late be Anja Woschick's most important mentor.
The same year she received her diploma as a soloist in 1991, Anja Woschick won the "Orpheus Competition" in Zurich and the "Bourse aux jeunes interprètes" in Lausanne. The press praised her as "... grande dame de la musique" and "piano poet." She was then rewarded with concerts in France, playing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Internationale Orchesterakademie, conducted by Ernst Schelle in Berlin).
In 1996 followed her recording debut ,"Anja Woschick plays Scriabin," taken by Radio Suisse Romande in Geneva.
In 1998 Anja Woschick signed a CD contract with WARNER/CHAPPELL-MUSIC in New York City and recorded "Highlights of Piano Classic" (from Bach and Beethoven to Scriabin).
In 2004 Anja Woschick was hired as a pianist for the documentary: "Felix Valloton - Painter against Time" (produced by NZZ in Zurich, directed by Heinz Bütler). Therefore, she recorded Fauré and Eric Satie as well as Prokofiev's "Visions Fugitives" op 22
(see http://www.nzzfilm.ch/de/vallotton)
As of late, Anja Woschick has been giving guest performances as a soloist in quite a number of European countries. Her concert tours have taken her to Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. It is the artist's wish to provide access to lesser-known composers, as well as works of the 20th century, beyond mainstream to a wider audience through her solo programs.
Anja Woschick teaches piano and music theory at the cantonal school Rämibühl (a type of grammar school) in Zurich, chairs improvisational workshops, occasionally plays in jazz bands, and prepares young talented
pianists for their university piano studies.