German Female Musicians

Clara Wieck Schumann was a German pianist, teacher, and composer. One of the most famous pianists of the Romantic era, Schumann changed the way concerts were conducted during her time and made a long-lasting impression as a pianist. She also influenced other pianists through her teaching; among her students were famous English pianist, Mathilde Verne.

Anne-Sophie Mutter had started learning the piano at age 5 but later switched to the violin. A prodigy, she first played for the Berlin Philharmonic at 13 and became a Royal Academy of Music fellow at 22. She is known for wearing custom-made designer strapless gowns while playing.

One of the greatest classical violinists of the 21st century, Julia Fischer is also a skilled pianist. She first gained fame with her performances with conductor Lorin Maazel in New York. The German musician had started learning the violin at age 3 and the piano at age 4.

German-Japanese classical pianist Alice Sara Ott began learning the piano at age 5. At 13, she was the youngest finalist of the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy Competition ever. She has also designed bags and app stickers. In 2019, she announced on Instagram that she had been suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a German pianist and composer of the early Romantic era. Many of her works were published under her younger brother Felix Mendelssohn's name due to the social conventions about the roles of women at that time and the reservations of her family. However, she has been getting the recognition that she deserves since the 1990s.

The daughter of pianist parents, Olga Scheps discovered her love for piano at age 4. Born in Moscow, she later moved to Germany with her parents, where she began participating in musical events at age 12. She is best known for her interpretations of Classical and Romantic musicians.

Renate Blauel is a German recording engineer who started hogging the limelight after marrying popular English composer and pianist, Sir Elton Hercules John. In the 2019 biographical musical film Rocketman, which was based on the life of Elton John, Renate Blauel was played by Dutch theatre actress and singer, Celinde Schoenmaker.

Born to pianist parents Robert and Clara Schumann, Eugenie Schumann grew up to be not just a fine pianist but also an author, who had penned her memoir, The Schumanns and Johannes Brahms. It is believed, she was in a long-term lesbian relationship with Austrian singer Marie Fillunger.

German-Japanese pianist Mona Asuka Ott is also known as the sister of classical pianist Alice Sara Ott. She began participating in piano events at age 4, and by 11, she was already performing as a duettist with Marcello Viotti on TV. She has conducted for Munich Symphony Orchestra and others.

Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka is a German Japanese pianist, composer, and former powerlifter and Olympic weightlifter. She achieved popularity in 1998 when she won a national music competition known as Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, along with her brothers Danjulo and Kiyondo Ishizaka. As a Olympic weightlifter, Kimiko competed at the 2008 German championships where she won three medals.   

Sophie Pacini is a German-Italian pianist who made her concert debut in 2000 when she was just eight years old. Since then, she has performed in several well-known concert halls around the world including the Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Konzerthaus in  Vienna, and Philharmonie in Berlin. She has also performed at international festivals like Lucerne Festival.