Julius von Forstner

Pianist · Bass-Baritone
currently based in Oslo, Norway

Single released: "Amy Beach: Out of the Depths"

15th Jun 2024

I am pleased to announce the release of a studio single with piano music by Amy Beach. The piece “Out of the Depths”, Op. 130 is based on the biblical Psalm 130 (Out of the depths I call to you, Oh lord) and is a beautiful example of the joy of experimentation in late romantic piano music. Spending some time with the works of composer Amy Beach, I have also realised how incredibly unknown this very valuable music is! It is therefore very important to me to shed some more light on this incredible music.

Participation in the Queen Sonja Opera Academy

3rd May 2024

For the next season 2024/2025 I got a spot at the Queen Sonja Opera Academy. This includes coaching and masterclases with world-known artists of the opera world as Lise Davidsen and Audun Iversen as well as coaches from the Met Opera in New York.

Album release: "Begegnungen: Bach & Brahms"

20th Mar 2023

I am happy to announce the release of my first studio recorded album with piano music by J.S. Bach and J. Brahms. In front of the op. 76 cycle of 8 Piano Pieces by Brahms that are rarely played in complete, the album features one of my personal favourites from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, the B-flat minor prelude and fugue from the first book. Both works, although very different in style and composing era, feature a very similar way of exposing a very intimate feeling of nostalgia and loneliness. While Bach stays within this field of feelings, Brahms takes these as a starting point to flourish into partly very contrasting character pieces that seem to me as if they contain the depth and richness of a whole lifetime.

Calendar

22-28 January 2024 – Lillesand/Kristiansand, Norway
Concert Tour with NMH pianists

16 April 2024 – Lahti, Finland
Concert as part of the ERASMUS funded BAIL project

03 May 2024 – Levinsalen NMH, Oslo, Norway
Schuberts Complete Piano Sonatas concert together with NMH pianists

10 May 2024 – Lindemansalen NMH, Oslo, Norway
Concert in cooperation with the Polish embassy

11 May 2024 – Sagene kirke, Oslo, Norway
Schubert Complete Piano Sonatas marathon concert together with NMH pianists

03 June 2024 – Musikkonservatoriet Tromsø, Norway
Singing exam concert

20 July 2024, 7 PM – Gasteig Munich, Germany
piano soloist at “vokalSinn” Choir Festival

06 August 2024 – Venabu Fjellhotell, Norway
solo piano recital

About me

The pianist and bass-baritone, born in 2001 in Schleswig, Northern Germany, began his varied musical education in his early childhood. After initially learning the basics of the piano on his own as well as singing in church choirs and playing the violin and viola, he began his piano education at the age of 10 with the Irish-German pianist Kevin McKenna. It was precisely this self-taught method that gave him an extremely natural and personal approach to music right from the start. This was followed by numerous concert appearances (also in cooperation with the state theater of Schleswig-Holstein) and prizes at competitions (including the national Jugend musiziert competition).

After graduating from high school, he began his studies for an artistic piano bachelor’s degree at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2019 with Prof. Kalle Randalu, which he completed with distinction in 2023. In 2022, Julius von Forstner enthusiastically completed an ERASMUS exchange semester at the Arctic University of Tromsø, Norway, with Prof. Sergej Osadchuk. He also received further important impulses from Heike Allardt, Andrej Jussow, Vadim Palmov, at the Mattheiser Summer Academy, the Nordland Chamber Music Course and from Prof. Christopher Park during the Voksenåsen Summer Academy.

In addition to chamber music, song interpretation and contemporary music, his studies at the Karlsruhe University of Music also sparked a great interest in classical singing. In 2023, Julius von Forstner therefore began his classical singing studies with Prof. Holger Speck as a bass-baritone and has already built up a broad repertoire of songs as well as oratorio and opera arias. The combination of piano and singing offers him ideally complementary skills that greatly enrich him as a musician.

In the fall of 2023, Julius von Forstner moved to Oslo, Norway, also because of his great enthusiasm for the country and its culture. At the Norwegian Academy of Music, he began his master studies in performing arts with Prof. Håvard Gimse. At the same time, he is continuing his vocal studies at the Arctic University in Tromsø with Prof. Anne-Lise Sollied and Prof. Carlo Allemano. For the season 2024/2025 Julius von Forstner got invited to the Queen Sonja Opera Academy.

Media

Repertoire

Piano

Arutiunian

  • Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano

Bach

  • English Suite No. 3 g-Moll: 1. Prelude
  • WTK I No. 1 C-Dur
  • WTK I No. 3 Cis-Dur
  • WTK I No. 13 Fis-Dur
  • WTK I No. 22 b-Moll
  • WTK II No. 19 A-Dur

Beethoven

  • Concerto No. 1 C-Dur op. 15
  • Sonata No. 1 f-moll, op. 2 No. 1
  • Sonata No. 8 c-Moll, op. 13
  • Sonata No. 18 Es-Dur, op. 31 No. 3

Amy Beach

  • Out of the Depths, op. 130
  • Piano Trio in a minor, op. 150

Brahms

  • 4 Ballades op. 10
  • 3 Intermezzi op. 117
  • 8 Klavierstücke op. 76
  • Rhapsodie op. 79 No. 2 g-Moll

Chopin

  • Ballade op. 23 No. 1 g-Moll
  • Berceuse op. 57
  • Etude op. 10 No. 12
  • Etude op. 25 No. 1-3, 5
  • Nocturne op. 27 No. 1 cis-Moll
  • Nocturne op. 48 No. 1 c-Moll
  • Scherzo No. 2 b-moll, op. 31
  • Sonata No. 3 h-Moll, op. 58
  • Prelude Op. 45 cis-Moll

Debussy

  • 2 Arabesques L. 66
  • Violin Sonata g-moll L. 140

Dvořák

  • Trio op. 90 „Dumky”

Grieg

  • Concerto op. 16 a-moll

Liszt

  • 3 Etudes de Concert S. 144 No. 1 & 3
  • Venezia e Napoli S. 162

Milhaud

  • Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano

Mozart

  • Concerto No. 9 Es-Dur K. 271
  • Concerto No. 17 G-Dur K. 453
  • Concerto No. 20 d-moll K. 466
  • Sonata F-Dur K. 332
  • Sonata C-Dur K. 330

Prokofiev

  • Sonata d-Moll op. 14

Rachmaninov

  • Concerto No. 2 c-moll op. 18
  • Suite No. 1 for 2 Pianos op. 5
  • 6 Morceaux for Piano 4-Hands op. 11 No. 1
  • Etude-Tableaux op. 39 No. 5 es-Moll
  • Prelude op. 23 No. 4
  • Prelude op. 32 No. 12

Ravel

  • Valses Nobles et Sentimentales M. 61
  • Rapsodie Espagnole M. 54 No. 1-2

Schönberg

  • 6 kleine Klavierstücke op. 19

Schubert

  • Impromptus op. 90 No. 1, 4
  • Sonata G-Dur, D 894

Schumann

  • Arabesque op. 18
  • Faschingsschwank aus Wien op. 26

Scriabin

  • Sonata No. 4
  • Etude op. 8 No. 2

Tchaikovsky

  • Dumka op. 59

Vocal

Bach

  • St Matthew Passion, BWV 244:
    • Aria „Mache dich mein Herze rein”
    • Aria „Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder“
  • Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248:
    • „Großer Herr und starker König“

Brahms

  • Vier ernste Gesänge op. 121
  • „Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen“, op. 32 No. 1
  • „Alte Liebe“, „Sommerfäden“, op. 72 No. 1, 2

L. Boulanger

  • „Dans l‘immense tristesse“

Grieg

  • „Ved rondane“, op. 33

Händel

  • Messiah, Rezitativo and Aria „For Behold, Darkness…The People that walked in Darkness”

Haydn

  • Jahreszeiten Hob XXI:3: Recitativo and Aria “Von dürrem Oste“ and „Erblicke hier betörter Mensch“

F. Hensel

  • „Dämmrung senkte sich von oben“

Mozart

  • Aria „Notte giorno faticar”
  • Aria „Non piu andrai”
  • Aria „Ho capito, signor si”
  • Aria „La ci darem la mano”
  • Concert aria „Mentre ti lascio figlia“
  • Zauberflöte (Sarastro)

Mendelssohn

  • Elijah op. 70: Aria „Es ist genug”

Schubert

  • Winterreise D. 913
  • 3 Gesänge op. 83
  • Schwanengesang D. 957 No. 4, 5, 11, 13
  • Der Wanderer D. 493
  • Der Wanderer an den Mond D. 870
  • Wanderers Nachtlied D. 224
  • Auf der Donau D. 553
  • Die Mainacht D. 194
  • Fahrt zum Hades D. 526
  • Am Tage aller Seelen D. 343

Schumann

  • Dichterliebe op. 48

Ralph Vaughan Williams

  • Songs of Travel

Verdi

  • from “Simon Boccanegra”: Il lacerato spirito

Hugo Wolf

  • Michelangelo-Lieder

Get in touch

You are welcome to write me a message. I am very interested in concert requests of any kind, both as a pianist and as a singer!