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Pianist Sebastian Knauer has performed all of Mozart's piano concertos, conducting them from the keyboard. He is also known for performances and recordings of unusual repertory and novel programs.

Knauer was born in Hamburg on July 29, 1971, into an old North German mercantile family. He has lived for his entire life in that city. His father was a journalist and broadcaster, and his mother worked in the nonprofit sector. Knauer took up the piano at five, was recognized as a prodigy, and gave his debut in 1984 at Hamburg's Laeiszhalle. He studied in Hamburg with Gernot Kahl (a student of Edwin Fischer and Géza Anda), Karl Heinz Kämmerling, and finally Philippe Entremont, a mentor who played duo piano works with his young student. He also took master classes with András Schiff and Alexis Weissenberg. By the early 1990s, his career was in full swing, and he had begun a career of appearances with top orchestras including the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Between 1990 and 2001, he performed a complete cycle of Mozart's 27 piano concertos, conducting the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg from the keyboard. He followed that up with a Haydn concerto cycle with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Knauer has given solo recitals in more than 50 countries on five continents. For many years, conductor Roger Norrington was a close collaborator. The later part of Knauer's career has featured unusual programs, some of them under the rubric Wort trifft Klassik (Words Meet Classical Music), in which he collaborated with Klaus Maria Brandauer and other well-known German actors.

Knauer has recorded mostly for the Berlin Classics label, recording not only Mozart, Haydn, and the sons of J.S. Bach but also music by Bernstein, Copland, and Barber. He has issued two albums in collaboration with composer Arash Safaian: ÃœberBach (2016) and This Is (Not) Beethoven (2020). ~ James Manheim

Unusually among European small orchestras, the Zürcher Kammerorchester (Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Zurich) has gained international prominence for both historically oriented performances and those given on conventional instruments. The orchestra has attracted international conductors who have built its reputation through recordings and tours. The orchestra was founded in 1945 by Swiss conductor Edmond de Stoutz, who led the group until 1996, shortly before his death, and commissioned various new works, including Frank Martin's Polyptyque for violin and two small string orchestras. As early as 1964 in New York and 1967 in Boston, the ZKO was performing in the U.S. British conductor Howard Griffiths took over the conductorship in 1996, and Muhai Tang was conductor from 2006 to 2011. Tang was succeeded by early music specialist Roger Norrington, who built the Baroque orientation of the orchestra in concerts with recorder player Maurice Steger and others. In 2016, Norrington was succeeded by violinist Daniel Hope, the first conductor to lead the group from his own instrument rather than from the podium. The Zürcher Kammerorchester plays Baroque music on gut strings and with historical bows. Its repertoire stretches forwards to the present day, and it has also undertaken collaborations with jazz, folk, and popular ensembles. The group mounts several special concert series for children and has established programs for the training and promotion of young musicians. The ZKO has a large catalog of recordings, mostly on the Novalis, Berlin Classics, CPO, and the Deutsche Grammophon labels; on the latter, they backed Hope on his Journey to Mozart album in 2018. It is a two-time winner of the Echo Klassik "Klassik ohne Grenzen" (Classical Without Borders) award. The ZKO has garnered regular invitations to international festivals, guest appearances in Europe's major music centers, and concert tours on almost every continent. ~ James Manheim