Piano Battle

Two piano champions together on stage, one dressed in black, the other one dressed in white. They performed, they competed, and in the end the audience chose the winner.

With the innovative concert format The Piano Battle, Andreas Kern and Paul Cibis presents classical music in a novel way. The two accomplished pianists compete against one another with distinctly different performance styles, playing pieces by composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Debussy and improvised works based on audience requests. Both serious and humorous, the show consists of recital and interactive elements, and the audience plays an active part throughout the entire program. In the end, the audience is invited to vote on the pianists’ performances and eventually choose a winner. Originally created for the Hong Kong City Festival in 2009, Piano Battle has been performed in several sold-out tours in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The concert show celebrated its European premiere at the Piano City Berlin Festival in 2010.

Paul Cibis studied piano in Hanover and in London. As a collaborative pianist, he graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. From 2005 to 2009, Paul taught at Trinity College of Music in London and also conducted Lieder workshops at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He regularly gives workshops and master classes for pianists in Germany, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.

Born in South Africa, Andreas Kern studied piano in Cologne and Berlin. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has extensive experience in Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India and South Africa. He was also the creator of the Piano City Berlin festival 2010, which featured more than 100 piano performances held in Berlin within one weekend. Since then, Piano City has branched out to other cities such as Milan and Barcelona.

A reception followed the performance. For more information visit: www.pianobattle.com