Cordula Hacke

Following her orchestral career, the studied pianist and flutist Cordula Hacke is a successful and sought-after chamber music piano partner with an extremely extensive knowledge of the repertoire. She is also professor of Chamber Music and Collaborative Piano at the University of Agder (Norway), lecturer, jury member of international competitions and musical director of various musical, operetta and theater productions.

Her chamber music partners include principal wind and string players from some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the German Radio Symphony Orchestras (Berlin, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Cologne and Stuttgart), the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and in 2016 she founded the Trio Art Nouveau, a piano trio dedicated to the music of the Fin de Siècle. 

Her extensive discography ranges from the works of contemporary Japanese and women composers to those of artists such as Pavel Haas, Leo Smit, and Paul Hindemith. Having worked closely with American composer George Crumb for many years, Cordula Hacke has been invited to perform his works in prestigious festivals in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Canada, and the USA. Her recording of Crumb's Vox Balaenae was released by Arte Nova-BMG Classics. 

As an editor she has published works by Claude Debussy and Raoul Laparra with Musikverlag Zimmermann (Schott) and Edition Kossack and is currently working on new projects.

She has collaborated with Jeanne Baxtresser, former principal flutist of the New York Philharmonic, in presenting acclaimed masterclasses in centres such as Frankfurt, Oxford, Toronto, New York, Pittsburgh and Amsterdam. She taught annually at the Salzburg Summer Academy and has served as official piano partner for the ARD International Music Competition (Munich), the Deutsche Musikrat Competition (Berlin), the Aeolus Competition, the Nicolet Competition, and the International Guangzhou Competition (China).

She was invited to Korea to give a series of masterclasses on collaborative piano and chamber music at Seoul National University, Sung Shin University and Yonsei University.  Masterclasses in Moscow (Gnessin School) followed as well as invitations to Lyon (CSNMD), Boston (NEC) and Jerusalem.  In 2023 she lead a project at Villa Musica in Schloss Engers.

Prof. Hacke was a member of the teaching faculty at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf (2000-2013) and serves on several juries of international competitions, among others she served as chairwoman of the jury at the Internationaler Flötenwettbewerb Friedrich Kuhlau, Uelzen from 2006 to 2023.

In 2022 she established a new International Competition in Wiesbaden, Germany. This new competition seeks to build a bridge between Art Nouveau and the music of this era and is therefore dedicated to the Music around 1900. 

Acclaimed for her work as musical director in theatre, her productions include My Fair Lady, Acht Frauen, Irma la Douce, Kleiner Mann, was nun?, La Cage aux Folles (own new arrangement),Fisch zu viert, Singin’ in the rain, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, Die Fledermaus – leicht gekürzt (a pocket version of the famous operetta) and Heisse Zeiten.

The highly successful Frankfurt production of Spatz und Engel (The Angel and the Sparrow) - the story of the friendship between Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf, which Cordula Hacke led as musical director, was on tour throughout Europe in 2021 and again in 2023.

Photo Copyright: Monika Werneke