Prof. Volker Zwetzschke

Volker Zwetzschke, born in West Germany, received piano lessons at a very young age. He
later received private lessons from Rainer Maria Klaas and Joanna Jakubovska. Volker
Zwetzschke owes the decisive impetus to make music his profession to the suggestions of the
Belgian composer Jacqueline Fontyn. He completed his studies in the piano class of Prof.
Michael Keller at the Detmold University of Music / Dept. Münster in 1999 with the “State Piano
Teacher’s Diploma”. There he also began the postgraduate course of “artistic maturity”, then
switched to Prof. Einar Steen-Nøkleberg in Hanover in 2001, where he passed his final
examination in 2003 with distinction.
He also received further musical inspiration from master classes from Tibor Szasz (Freiburg),
Volker Banfield (Hamburg), Einar Steen-Nøkleberg (Hanover), Hans Leygraf (Salzburg),
Bernd Glemser (Würzburg) and Mikhail M. Aleksandrow (Moscow).
At the same time, Volker Zwetzschke devoted himself to studying philosophy with Prof. Dr.
Albert Stüttgen at the “Westfälische-Wilhems-Universität” Münster.
From 1996 to 2011 Volker Zwetzschke was a member of the piano duo INVIA. In addition to
their solo training, they studied specifically as a piano duo at the Detmold Music Academy with
Prof. Michael Keller from 2001-04. Together they attended master classes with Radoslav
Kvapil (Prague) with a focus on “Czech-Bohemian Music” and the piano duo Begona Uriarte
and Karl-Hermann Mrongovius (Munich).
At the “6th Concours Grieg – International Competition for Pianists in Oslo 2005” they were
awarded four prizes: 1st prize (Prix d`Oslo), Grieg Prize, Audience Prize and Sponsorship
Prize. The competition also included a Super Audio CD production (released in 2006)
sponsored by the International Grieg Society Oslo.
A pronounced domestic concert activity with performances and invitations in the context of
renowned series and festivals is contrasted with successful guest performances in other
European countries.
Since the 2013/14 season he has been playing in a duo with the international well known
pianists Marc Pierre Toth and Oleg Poliansky.
Volker Zwetzschke has been working as a piano teacher since the mid-1990s and has
meanwhile given a number of students access to German music academies. In 2008 he
assisted for the first time as a lecturer in an international piano master class given by Oleg
Poliansky.
Furthermore, he is the initiator and artistic director of the following concert series:
– “Kammerkonzerte auf der Wasserburg Lüttinghof“ in Gelsenkirchen (since 1996)
– “Europäisches Klassikfestival“ in the entire Ruhr area (since 2001)
– “PIANO! – Klassik im Kulturzentrum Erlöserkirche“ in Marl (since 2016)
After the Corona period, Volker Zwetzschke is increasingly taking care of his jury work at
various international piano competitions. In addition, he is responsible for the organization and
development of the „Fujairah International Piano Competition“ in the UAE since 2022