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Marlo Thinnes

Life

Marlo Thinnes was born in Saarbrucken, Germany.
His father was an accordionist and a music school director.
Hence he was introduced to various instruments early on.
From aged 9 he began to take a keen interest in the piano.
He learned almost everything by ear alone deciphering complex piano pieces all by himself that  he listened to on records.

Although destined to become a professional musician, his path was hindered by the premature death of his father. From 1994 –2000 he became the artistic and administrative director of his deceased father’s music school, formerly one of the biggest, unsubsidised private music schools in southwest Germany.

In  1997 he  studied piano at the University of Music Saarbrücken (hfm) with Professor Robert Leonardy. Another influential teacher, mentor and father figure was Cortotalumni and - assistant, professor Jean Micault, under whose tuition Thinnes developed a repertoire of the main romantics, in particular, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt.
Marlo Thinnes completed his piano studies (M.Mus., soloist diploma) with distinction.
He has won prizes in  of a number of international competitions, was the holder of a Meindel scholarship and has performed in some of Europe’s most famous concert halls including the Albert Hall in London and the Bastille Operahouse in Paris.
His vast repertoire includes major works from Scarlatti to Strawinsky, with an emphasis on the classical-romantic era, as well as rarer pieces, his own compositions and arrangements and a selection of 21 century music.

Beside his activities as a soloist, the chamber music connects him with musicians from a wide variety of styles. For example, he and the Munich violinist Ingolf Turban made a complete recording of Beethoven's sonatas for piano and violin for the telos label in 2020, which was celebrated by the specialist press and nominated for the German Record Critics' Prize, the OPUS Klassik  2021 and the ICMA 2021.

The latest Venerem project, which Thinnes is launching with his wife, the soprano Laureen Stoulig, has a completely different artistic style. The formation consists of four musicians who combine their different musical roots into an art music that is unique in its kind. The arrangements for the special combination of voice, piano, electronic bass and drums - mostly on early music - are Thinnes's compositions. The debut album Venerem early art music was released in March 2021.

As artistic director, he founded: Klassik auf Birkhausen, an annual concert every  spring,  which transforms the riding hall of the court built in 1744 near
Zweibrücken into an exclusive concert hall, and the Festival de Musique de Valmunster, which takes place in the Eglise Millénaire Saint-Jean-Baptiste is at home in a picturesque location on the Lorraine Hills, where Thinnes lives with his family in an old farm yard.

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