www.christoph-keller.ch

Biography

Christoph Keller, born in 1950 in Schwanden in Canton Glarus (Switzerland), has lived in Zurich since 1971. He studied piano principally with Sava Savoff at the Conservatory and Music Academy of Zurich.
Keller has enjoyed an international career as a pianist since 1971. He has performed in most European countries, in Japan, the USA and Venezuela. He has given concerts at renowned festivals including the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Musikfest Berlin and the Beethovenfest Bonn.
Keller has made over 30 CDs, including complete recordings of the piano and chamber music of Hanns Eisler and Albéric Magnard, and his recordings have been given awards such as the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’ and the ‘Diapason d’or’.
Keller has made numerous radio and TV recordings, and participated in the film ‘Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story’ by Larry Weinstein.
From 1997 to 2014 Keller was the pianist of the Collegium Novum Zürich (CNZ) and was its interim artistic director in the 2004/05 season. He and Christoph Homberger were the artistic heads of the ‘music salon’ organized by the CNZ in the Zurich Brockenhaus, and since 2008 they have organized short-notice concerts (the ‘Spontankonzerte’) at unusual venues such as a car showroom, a metal-working shop and an indoor swimming pool.
Keller has been the music director for theatrical productions, working with directors such as Christoph Marthaler (‘Die schöne Müllerin’) and Frank Castorf (‘Die Meistersinger’), and he has also put on his own projects, such as ‘From Hollywood to Pankow – Hanns Eisler and women’.
Keller has been active in the media and as a writer for many years.
1984–2000: Chief editor of the Swiss music journal ‘Dissonanz/Dissonance’.
1986–2010: Music producer at Swiss Radio DRS2 (today ‘SRF2 Kultur’).
2010–2012: Lecturer and répétiteur at the ‘Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar’ in Venezuela.
2012: Curator of the New Music Days in Zurich.
2015: Edited the piano music (Volume I) of Hanns Eisler as part of the Complete Edition published by Breitkopf & Härtel.
2016: Awarded the Cultural Prize of Canton Zurich, together with Christoph Homberger.
2020: Edited the piano music (Volumes I and II) of Erich Schmid as part of the Erich Schmid Edition published by Boosey & Hawkes (Bote & Bock).