Aris | Pianist
Alexander | Conductor
Blettenberg | Composer

"Aris Alexander Blettenberg is an exceptionally versatile full-blooded musician who plays the piano, conducts and composes excellently. He internalizes the most diverse spheres of musical expression and shapes them in an extremely differentiated and impressive manner. With his colorful, present and intelligent piano playing, he always acts in the service of the cause, the soloist or the ensemble playing with him. His virtuosity and musical prudence show themselves to be excellent prerequisites for a promising career."

(From the laudatory speech for the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize).

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In October 2021, he won the 16th International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna. He has already performed at the Vienna Musikverein, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Konzerthaus Berlin, and London's Wigmore Hall, and is a welcome guest at the Kissinger Sommer, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Festspiele Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, and the SPANNUNGEN Heimbach, to name a few.

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In the fall of 2023, Blettenberg made his debut as pianist with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra which was highly praised by audiences and the press: "His keyboard touch was precise and incredibly nuanced, which enabled him to shape the lyrical passages with marvelous clarity and expressiveness. [...] His interpretation was tender and touching, and he lent the melodies a warm and melancholy flavor. His piano playing was poetic through and through, and his phenomenal control of the instrument was particularly evident in the gentle passages." (Online Merker)

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In one of many collaboration with Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra as conductor he took over the musical direction in place of the late Lars Vogt. In May 2023, Blettenberg opened the Sächsisches Mozartfest as pianist and conductor. He also made his debut at the Schwetzinger Festspiele with the Trio Neo and was a guest at the Vienna Musikverein with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Tchaikovsky's 2nd Piano Concerto. Blettenberg is closely associated with the Munich Chamber Opera; a CD (Genuin) of Beethoven piano concertos and his own arrangement for twelve musicians was released in November 2023: "Outstandingly successful: Through their close collaboration, the performers have achieved a homogeneous sound character in all the works [...]If anyone is looking for interpretations of the classic which skillfully showcase the intimate setting of chamber music, they will find what they are looking for on this CD." (Magazin Klassik). In May 2023, his first solo album entitled "Hommage à Beethoven" (including his own transcription) was released on the AVI/Deutsche Grammophon label.

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In the 2023/24 season, Blettenberg follows his third invitation to the Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern and makes his debut at the Festival der Nationen and with KlangKollektiv Wien.

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Aris Alexander Blettenberg was born in 1994 in Mülheim an der Ruhr. He studied piano, chamber music and conducting with Antti Siirala, Lars Vogt (†), Silke Avenhaus and Bruno Weil in Munich, Hanover and Salzburg. Blettenberg received further impulses through master classes with Rudolf Buchbinder, Gerhard Oppitz, Cyprien Katsaris, Imogen Cooper and Vladimir Jurowski.

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Among the musicians with whom Blettenberg has collaborated are Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher, Julian Rachlin, Christian Tetzlaff, Sharon Kam, Martin Helmchen and Maximilian Hornung; ensembles include the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and the Duisburg Philharmonic. In 2015, Blettenberg won the International Hans von Bülow Competition in Meiningen in the category "Conducting from the Piano." He made his debut as an opera conductor at the Staatstheater there in 2019 with Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio."

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His published compositions are performed worldwide, recorded on CD and broadcast on radio. He presented his composition "Sarkastina" with bassoonist Theo Plath at Wigmore Hall in March 2022. Blettenberg has been organizing his own concert series, the "Kapellenkonzerte" in cooperation with the non-profit company MÜNCHENSTIFT in Munich, since March 2022.

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Aris Alexander Blettenberg is the recipient of the Steinway Förderpreis 2019 and the Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis 2020. From 2015 to 2021 he was a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and has been a Bösendorfer Artist since 2022.