Pianist Knaup presents concert of classical and Broadway classics at Renaissance Center March 27

Release Date: 3/16/2006. Expired: 3/27/2006

From classical composers to Broadway classics, pianist Gunther Knaup presents it all in a concert at The Renaissance Center on Monday, March 27.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. Gunther Plays the Classics concert in the Performance Hall are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for children under 13.

Knaup has performed around the world before presidents and royalty, for television and theater, in upscale resorts and the world’s largest symphony halls. His repertoire ranges from Mozart, Liszt and Chopin to Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and George and Ira Gershwin.

“My music comes from the heart,” Knaup says.

Born in the turmoil of post-war Munich, Germany, Knaup has worked as a professional musician since the age of 9. He studied piano as a child and sang in Toelzer Knabenchor, a boys choir that toured throughout Europe. He has performed before German presidents and Queen Elizabeth at Winchester Cathedral.

Knaup continued his studies at the Mozarteum on Salzburg, Austria, and Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, also participating in special piano master classes with Walter Krafft, founder of the Meunchener Musik Seminar.

At the age of 19, Knaup left his concert pianist career to work in the entertainment industry as a conductor, arranger and pianist. He did musical direction for theaters in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin and conducted the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in an original composition in The Budokan, at that time the largest concert hall in the world.

In 1979 Knaup answered a call from a record producer at CBS in New York City and began working on compositions and arrangements for artists on the label, eventually also working with several theater productions.

Knaup chose to stay in America after meeting Sylvia, now his wife of more than 20 years. He worked as a show tune pianist in New York City hotels, including the famous Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, and various resorts across the country such as The Greenbriar and The Homestead.

Knaup now lives in Nashville where he plays shows at various clubs and functions and is featured at ReCreations of Nashville, a high-end antique store reminiscent of the era when famous composers played in European salons.

“In 1999, I rediscovered my passion for classical piano music and Gunther Plays the Classics (a 2-volume CD) was my first endeavor to go back to repertoire piano music,” he says.

His performances now intertwine classical and Broadway, moving from the hauntingly beautiful Nocturne in E-flat and Mozart sonatas to medleys of tunes from The Sound of Music, West Side Story and Cole Porter.

Knaup will present a matinee performance at 2 p.m. March 27 as part of The Renaissance Center’s Senior Days. Tickets for patrons 55 and older are $5.

For more information on Knaup’s performances at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets, call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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