Chinese Press

Praised for her elegant execution, beautiful tone and remarkable virtuosity, pianist Lydia Maria Bader has been described as “one of the leading pianists of Germany” (Neue Musikzeitung). Her passion is to make her audience discover classical piano music in a new light by combining music and storytelling.

After the acclaimed release of the 2014 album “Music of the North”, which featured works from Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, she wants to introduce the beauty of Chinese piano music to her European audience with her current CD release "Chinese Dreams" (nominated for OPUS KLASSIK 2021)

Lydia’s active performance schedule spans the globe and include invitations at numerous festivals in France and Austria, such as the “Festwochen Gmunden”, where she performed piano concertos by Franz Liszt and Sergej Rachmaninoff. Combining her passions for bringing music directly to the people and foreign cultures, she worked together with German cultural institutes and German Embassies in the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Bangladesh and the Ukraine. Her repeated tours in China are celebrated by extensive media attention as the “German Piano Princess”. For her achievements, she was appointed a Cultural Ambassador of the Province of Gansu in 2016.

Born in Bavaria, Germany, Lydia received her first piano lessons from her father. At the age of fifteen she began her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Karl-Hermann Mrongovius and Michael Schäfer. Other major influences on her artistic development include a year of study at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris with Michel Beroff and studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria, with Markus Schirmer. Further artistic inspiration came through masterclasses with András Schiff, Jacques Rouvier, Philippe Entremont, Mikhail Vosskressenky, Pascal Devoyon and Ludwig Hofmann.

A multiple winner of the “Jugend musiziert” competition, Lydia has garnered prizes at several international competitions, including the Flame Competition in Paris and the Glière Competition. She was a recipient of scholarships from the Jürgen Ponto Foundation, "Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben" and Giesecke & Devrient. For her CD project "Chinese Dreams" she was supported by the Funk Foundation Hamburg and the Aventis Foundation.