Sibylle Briner started playing the piano at the tender age of four. One year later she joined the Conservatorium in her hometown of Lucerne and made her debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s piano concert No. 1. After she was awarded first prize at the Hamburg Steinway competition 1987, she began studying piano under Hubert Harry at the Lucerne University of Arts. In 1992 she received her Concert Diploma with distinction. In the same year she was awarded first prize at the Concorso Musicale Europeo Cità di Moncalieri (Turin).
In 1993 a grant from the Dienemann foundation enabled her to start her postgraduate course at the Berlin University of Arts under Prof. Klaus Hellwig which in 1998 she continued at the Acadamy of Music "Hanns Eisler" under Prof. Georg Sava. In 2001 she graduated with the highest grade, 1,0 summa cum laude.
Master classes with Leon Fischer, Malcolm Frager, Ivan Klansky, György Sebök and Murray Perahia as well as encounters with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mstislaw Rostropowitsch and Claudio Abbado have further served to develop her artistic talents. In the last few years she has repeatedly been involved in concerts during the Berlin Festival. Furthermore, Sibylle Briner has appeared as a soloist at several other international festivals, including the renowned Lucerne Festival, the International Music Festival of Davos, the Classic Open Air Festival Berlin and the Turin Festival.
In addition to performing in concerts with an orchestra and conductor and giving piano recitals, chamber music has become an important focus for Sibylle Briner. She has already worked with numerous distinguished musicians in this area, for example the Mandelring-Quartett, soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, musicians of the Hardenberg Trios (producing a joint CD with works from Beethoven, Brahms and Schostakowitsch).Together with the pianist Patrizio Mazola, they form the piano duo "Bern-Berlin".
Sibylle Briner regularly holds concerts with her sister, violinist Isabelle Briner (Mahler Chamber orchestra) and the duo "Classic meets Jazz" with saxophonist Gary Wiggins. Moreover, Sibylle Briner has developed, with the actor Peter Fitz and his daughter Hendrikje Fitz, a successful Ravel programme based on Jean Ehenoz’s Ravel book.
Sibylle Briner’s true passion lies in the piano works of Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as the music of the twentieth century, especially pieces inspired by Jazz (George Gershwin, Frank Martin, Caspar Diethelm etc.). The exceptional young pianist has, since she was six, always experimented with a variety of music styles ranging from Bach to Erroll Garner, and like many great pianist (from Liszt to Gulda) before her, she occasionally enriches her recitals with her own improvisations or compliments these with well known film music from von Michael Nyman, Philip Glass or Yann Tiersen.
Sibylle Briner is known for her precision and spontaneity, virtuosity, tenderness and power and turns every one of her concerts into an unforgettable event.
