Winner of four Edison Awards, two Diapason d’Or Awards, and two Cannes Classical Awards. Heir to the authentic German-Austrian classical piano tradition.

One of the world’s leading pianists today, Ronald Brautigam is renowned not only for his virtuosity on the modern piano, but also for his dedication to recreating classical sound on historical instruments. He is likewise celebrated as a “complete works recording master” under the BIS label, having received four Edison Awards, two Diapason d’Or awards, and two Cannes Classical Awards for “Best Solo Piano.” As a direct student of the legendary pianist Rudolf Serkin, Brautigam carries forward the pure lineage of the German-Austrian classical piano tradition.

On June 12 and 13, this “grand master” of piano music will make his debut at the Guangzhou Opera House, presenting two concerts dedicated to the late piano sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert.

Brautigam’s performance career spans the globe. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras, from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, while maintaining close partnerships with major period-instrument ensembles. Since 2009, he has worked extensively with the Kölner Akademie under conductor Michael Alexander Willens, recording a highly acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart’s piano concertos (11 albums), as well as concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Weber.

In 2004, Brautigam launched a 15-album project with BIS to record Beethoven’s early piano works. The American magazine Fanfare praised the series as “a challenge to traditional approaches to performing these works on modern piano—a paradigm shift in performance style.” The first nine volumes received both the Edison Award and the German Record Critics’ Annual Award in 2015.

In addition to his work with BIS, Brautigam has recorded piano concertos by Shostakovich, Hindemith, and Frank Martin with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, and has released numerous recordings in collaboration with violinist Isabelle van Keulen.

Beyond performance and recording, Brautigam is also active in music scholarship and publication. He reconstructed the full orchestral score of Beethoven’s 1784 Piano Concerto (WoO 4) and edited five piano concertos by Johann Wilhelm Wilms, published by Ries & Erler in Berlin.