Biography

Stefanie Schumacher, born 1976 in Müllheim near Freiburg, Germany, completed her accordion and piano studies at the Richard-Strauss-Conservatory in Munich. Studying accordion with Teodoro Anzellotti, she achieved her concert diploma at the Academy of arts in Bern, Switzerland. Numerous master classes with such teachers as Hugo Noth, Stefan Hussong and Friedrich Lips supplemented her activities. She also performed as a scholarship recipient of the “Live Music Now” Yehudi-Menuhin-Foundation. In 2009 she was honored with the City of Munich Music scholarship.

Stefanie Schumacher gave her solo debut in 2002 with the Symphonische Akademie Munich. A highly versatile stage life as well as participation in film and radio productions has familiarized her with the most varied facets of the accordion, both as a soloist and as a chamber music partner. She has been invited to renowned festivals, including the “Klangspuren Schwaz”, the “Kultursommer Nordhessen”, the “Niedersächsische Musiktage”, the “Oberstdorfer Musiksommer” and the “Schwarzwaldfestival”. The accordion virtuoso has also performed in numerous formations in France, Spain, Austria, Greece, Turkey, Vietnam, Brazil and the USA. In addition to her projects with large symphonic ensembles such as the Munich Symphony and the Gärtnerplatz State Theater Orchestra in Munich, Stefanie Schumacher has performed with contemporary music ensembles and is a member of “Ensemble Zeitsprung”.

Via works that she has commissioned for her instrument, the artist integrates the immediacy of emotional expression – as are common in folk and popular music – into the contemporary creation of “serious” music. Her intensive exchange with composers leads not only to the development of expressive beauty of sound but also to an autonomous language for the accordion. A sensitive interpreter, Stefanie Schumacher has greatly broadened the spectrum of expression of contemporary music-making through numerous premieres, e.g. of works by Sidney Corbett, Peter Michael Hamel, Bernd Redmann, Moritz Eggert, Nikolaus Brass and Minas Borboudakis. She recently recorded her first Solo-CD “Unanswered Questions”, published by “OehmsClassics”.