MEDIA RELEASE
10 April 2008
SYDNEY AN INSPIRATION FOR STUTTGART SOLOIST
Laurens Patzlaff, co-founder of the renowned European piano duo ImproVision, didnt need his arm
twisted to participate in a current concert tour to Sydney by the University of Stuttgart Academic
Orchestra.
The child prodigy pianist admits to falling for the Emerald City in 2004 when he visited Australia for a solo
tour; and again in 2007 when he jumped at the opportunity to coach student ensembles in the finer
points of Beethovens chamber music during a stint at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Tomorrow night (11 April), Patzlaff, who teaches improvisation at Stuttgart, will be one of the star
performers of the Conservatoriums Conductors Series, featuring the Conservatorium Chamber
Orchestra and the Stuttgart Orchestra.
The joint concert in The Cons Verbrugghen Hall will bring together Maestro Imre Pallo, Professor and
Chair of the Conducting and Opera Productions of the Conservatorium, and Veronika Stoertzenbach,
conductor since 1988 of the Stuttgart Academy Choir and Orchestra and Director of Music at the
University of Stuttgart.
Patzlaff, 27, who started playing piano at eight and was winning competitions while still at school, has built
an international reputation for his classical repertoire, but is also regarded as an improviser in jazz.
He will play solo the George Gershwin Concerto in F.
Other highlights of the concert include:
The Conservatorium Chamber Orchestras playing of the Richard Mills Sequenzas Concertante;
Carl Maria von Webers Concerto in F Major Opus 75, featuring soloist Professor Kim Walker on
bassoon; and
The University of Stuttgart Academic Orchestra playing the Der Freischutz Overture.
Media inquiries Scott Saunders 02 9351 1298 or Graham Cassidy, Cato Counsel, 0419 202317