Johannes Tonio Kreusch

Johannes Tonio Kreusch - Germany

Johannes Tonio Kreusch graduated from the Salzburger Mozarteum studying under Eliot Fisk and Joaquín Clerch and from the New York Juilliard School of Music studying under Sharon Isbin.

Since his début at New York's Carnegie Recital Hall in 1996, his tours both as a soloist and as a chamber musician have taken him to many countries in Europe, to Latin America and the USA. In addition to the classical guitar repertoire, his interest is also focused on improvised and avant-garde music, which is as well reflected in his own compositions. His extensive collaboration with contemporary composers has resulted in many new compositions for the guitar.

Johannes Tonio Kreusch's numerous recordings for labels like Arte Nova, BMG, Oehms Classics, DGG and broadcasting companies like Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany), NPS (Netherlands), ORF (Austria) or Radio Suisse Romande received high critical recognition and prestigious awards. The French music magazine, „Classica Répertoire“, for example, honored his CD featuring the 12 Villa-Lobos Etudes with the „10 de Répertoire“ award, calling his performance „the new recording standard supplanting the legendary recordings of Narciso Yepes and Julian Bream“. His recordings not only include standard guitar repertoire (from the Lute Music of Bach to the manuscript version of the 12 Villa-Lobos Etudes) but also cover world premiere recordings of contemporary works and compositions of his own. As a chamber musician he frequently works with well-known artists like the Metropolitan Opera tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. The New York Times wrote about their recent Carnegie Hall recital: "...the audience could hardly bear to break the spell with applause...".

Apart from his work as a performer, Johannes Tonio Kreusch teaches at the University of Munich, holds seminars and master classes, and frequently writes for international music magazines.

Johannes Tonio Kreusch is the Artistic Director of the Festival.