SEBASTIAN MANZ www.sebastianmanz.com

BIOGRAPHY 2016/2017

Manz delights the media as a musician “who bowls melodies and notes along in front of him with such agility in their colour and nuances, it is as if they were balls he was expertly juggling …” (SZ). His “overwhelming passion for music making [is combined] with technical perfection” (WAZ) – and the RHEINISCHE POST writes of his CD “In Rhythm: “… it swings and stimulates, refreshes and weeps, and you just cannot get enough of it …”.

Being the grandson of the Russian violinist Boris Goldstein and the son of two pianists, Manz's musical roots are in his German-Russian family background. He was born in in 1986 and began singing in a boys' choir at the age of six. He first learned the piano, which he plays very well, but soon concentrated on the after listening to Benny Goodman's recording of Carl Maria von Weber's E flat major Concerto, which fascinated him and awoke a longing for the instrument. Among his most important teachers and supporters were the acclaimed clarinettists Sabine Meyer and Rainer Wehle.

His big breakthrough came with his sensational success at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in September 2008, where he won not only first prize in the Clarinet category, which had not been awarded for forty years, but also the coveted Audience Prize and other special prizes. In the “Duo Riul” with his partner Martin Klett at the piano, he had also won the German Music Competition just a few months previously. Sebastian Manz has since then been one of the most popular soloists and chamber musicians of the younger generation. Two ECHO Klassik awards have confirmed Sebastian Manz as one of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians of his generation. He has been solo clarinettist with the SWR Symphony Orchestra in since 2010.

In the 2015/2016 season Sebastian Manz was invited to several countries and cities. He undertook a number of international guest tours to Japan, Brazil and Portugal and has been Artist in Residence with the Philharmonie Baden- Baden, where he played three successful concerts. He also made his debut with the Hamburg Symphony with Copland’s under conductor John Axelrod. With Martin Klett as „Duo Riul“ he accepted again an invitation of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg and the Movimentos Festival Weeks Wolfsburg.

In season 2016/2017 Sebastian Manz is invited by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Symphony Orchestra Voarlberg, Symphony Orchestra Hof and the Philharmonic Orchestra Württemberg. Furthermore he will play several concerts with different partners. Together with Herbert Schuch, Danjulo Ishizaka and Mirjam Contzen will Messiaen’s „Quartet for the End of Time“, with Ramón Ortega Quero, Marc Trénel and David Alonso „Quintets for Piano and Winds”, as well as with the Danish String Quartet Brahms’ Clarinet Concerto be performed.

His discography now boasts 9 CDs, all of which impressively document his versatility and talent on the instrument and are impressive for their interesting choice of works comprising both standard repertoire and rarely heard works. His recording with the Danish String Quartet compares the clarinet quintets of Robert Fuchs and Johannes Brahms.

In February 2017 his most extensive CD project so far will be released at the renowned Label EDEL / BERLIN CLASSICS. The complete works for clarinet composed by Weber, recorded with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under conductor Antonio Mendez, the casalQuartet and Manz’s long-time piano partner Martin Klett.

Alongside his concert work, Sebastian Manz has been active for some time in the “Rhapsody in School” organization founded by Lars Vogt, which is committed to bringing into schools.

Changes and alterations require prior consultation with Grunau Musik Management.

GRUNAU MUSIK MANAGEMENT Jonas Grunau & Antonia Klöpf www.grunau-musikmanagement.eu