Ingolf
Wunder

Ingolf Wunder is an Austrian pianist, multi-prize winner of the 2010 International Chopin Piano Competition, conductor, composer and co-founder of two educational platforms for music: Appassio and Appassimo.
He started his musical adventure on the violin at the age of 4. After his talent for the piano was accidentally discovered by a piano teacher from Linz, Wunder gave up violin and switched to the piano at the age of 14. He began intensive piano studies at the Music Conservatory Linz and only few months later he participated in his first youth competition and won the 1st Prize (VII Concorso Internazionale di Musica, Cortemillia). Soon after the won several other competitions, including the 63. Steinway Piano Competition in Hamburg. About one year after switching to the piano he made his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Two years later he already played in concert some of be most demanding piano works, including Liszt’s all Transcendental Etudes.
He continued his piano studies at the Music University in Vienna and in order to evolve artistically he travelled throughout Europe to get the right inputs from great pianists as often as possible, first and foremost Idil Biret.
In 2008 he started his collaboration with the Polish pianist and the winner of the 1955 Chopin Competition, Adam Harasiewicz. One year later he decided to take part in a piano competition for the very last time. The 2010 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw brought uproar, recognition, the 2nd Prize, a few special prizes and many devoted listeners around the world, who saw in him the real winner of the competition.
Next to playing concerts and touring, he undertook conducting studies in Cracow to widen his musical horizons. He obtained his diploma in the end of 2012, but it wasn’t until 2019 when he started to appear in concerts in a double-role: pianist and conductor, conducting piano concerti as well as symphonies.
He recorded several albums for Deutsche Grammophon, he performed in Europe, Asia and both Americas, including such prestigious halls as Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall (NYC), Berlin Philharmonie, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), Tonhalle Zurich, Rudolfinum (Prague), Moscow Conservatory, Mariinsky Theater (St. Petersburg), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), LOTTE Concert Hall in Seoul, National Concert Hall in Taipei etc.
In 2017 together with his wife, he launched Appassio.com – a freelance remote teaching platform for music and arts. Since 2018, next to playing concerts, he is also appearing as a public speaker focusing on the importance of human creativity and music education in the world of AI and singularity. He gave speeches at events such as: United Nations’ IGF, SDG Lab at the Davos World Economic Forum, the biggest education summit ASU+GSV in San Diego, TED Talk etc.
In 2020 he co-founded his second education platform – Appassimo.com, created for music institutions, which is now used by several major universities worldwide. He shares his time between playing concerts, advocating for music and arts and developing startups, always with the same goal: promotion of artistic education and increasing the awareness how important it actually is for the generations to come.
Privately he is an admirer of Romanticism and Impressionism in music and fine arts. He also has a great interest in neuroscience, quantum mechanics and technology.

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