Julius Asal

Praised by Menahem Pressler for his "uniquely beautiful sound and special sonority", German pianist Julius Asal is quickly establishing himself as one of the promising performers of his generation. He is a regular guest at international festivals (Oxford Piano Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, VP Bank Classic Festival, Davos Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Gustav Mahler Festival Toblach etc.) and has performed in prestigious concert halls including Wigmore Hall London, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Merkin Concert Hall New York, Musikverein Vienna, Suntory Hall Tokyo and Laeiszhalle Hamburg. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the German Radio Philharmonic, the St. Andrew Symphony Orchestra Edinburgh and the Brandenburg State Orchestra. Born in 1997 into a musical family, he began to improvise on the piano at the age of three by playing what he heard on the instrument in a self-taught manner. In 2005 he received his first lessons from Prof. Sibylle Cada. Two years later, he was taught by Wolfgang Hess (Dr. Hoch's Conservatory Frankfurt), before he became a young student of Prof. Oliver Kern (University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt) in 2013. Since spring 2017, Asal has been living in his adopted home of Berlin, where he was studying with Prof. Eldar Nebolsin (Hanns Eisler University of Music Berlin) until 2022. Since October 2021, he is studying with Sir András Schiff at Kronberg Academy. In his still young career, Julius Asal was influenced by musicians such as Christoph Eschenbach, Gidon Kremer, Richard Goode, Boris Berezovsky and Steven Isserlis. He has also received artistic guidance from Tabea Zimmermann, Antje Weithaas, Kirill Gerstein, Eberhard Feltz, Marios Papadopoulos, Bernhard Wetz and Ferenc Rados. Julius Asal is frequently present on the international competition scene. He won his first competition at age of nine. Furthermore, he is a First Prize Winner of the Young Concert Artists European Auditions, the Goldene Taste International Piano Competition, the Mendelssohn Piano Competition and the Lions Music Award. He was awarded the Silver Medal at the Palma d'Oro International Piano Competition and received Special Prizes at the International Brahms Competition and the "Ton und Erklärung" Piano Competition. In August 2017, he played in the Solo Finals of the legendary Busoni Competition in Italy. Julius Asal has been awarded the Steinway Prize and has received scholarships from the Oxford Philharmonic Society, the PE Funding Association, the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the RC Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Ferruccio Busoni Foundation. He also received the Deutschlandstipendium, under which he was supported by Yamaha Music Europe GmbH. In addition to his concert activities as a soloist, Julius Asal is a passionate chamber musician who regularly performs with the violinist Anne Luisa Kramb and the Arcon Trio, which he founded in 2012. Moreover, he devotes himself to lecture concerts and readings with a musical framework, which has brought him together with international actors and authors in recent years. He gave lectures such as "Improvisation - musical reorientation as a philosophy of life" on behalf of the Hessian Ministry of Culture and appeared with his own projects such as "Schumann - On Intimacy and Ambivalence" and "Büchner meets Ravel - Lenz and the Gaspard de la nuit".