Born in 1953 in Frauenau, Bavaria, Gerhard Oppitz started to play piano when he was five years old and made his public debut as a concerto soloist at the age of eleven. From 1966, he continued his piano studies in Stuttgart and Munich with Paul Buck and Hugo Steurer, later making a particular study of the works of Beethoven under Wilhelm Kempff. In 1977, having won First Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Israel, the ninety-year-old Rubinstein himself a member of the jury, he embarked on a worldwide performing career that has involved recitals in the musical centres of Europe, America and Asia as well as artistic cooperation with the most prestigious conductors and orchestras. While his main interest is focussed on the classical and romantic repertoire, he has given the world premiere of a large number of concertos. He has shown particular enthusiasm for presenting large-scale cycles of compositions, such as Bach’s Wohltemperirtes Clavier, the sonatas of Beethoven, and the complete works for solo piano by Schubert and Brahms. His chamber music partners include Josef Suk, Lydia Mordkovitch, Gil Shaham, Heinrich Schiff and Sabine Meyer. Since 1981, Gerhard Oppitz has been teaching post-graduate students at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.