Lars David Kellner doesn't compromise when it comes to his music: When the native Bavarian takes on a composer, he absorbs him completely. In 2013, he records the complete original piano works by Leos Janacek on three CDs - from the large, well-known cycles to the smallest fragments - and causes an international sensation with this most comprehensive audio document of the Czech composer to date.

„He posseses a full-bodied and rounded sound and solide technique, making the hardest passages sound easy. (…) His freedom with the music (…) is exceptional.“ (S. Noriega, Fanfare Mag, 2014)

Of course Kellner has the bravura pieces of the piano literature in his fingers, as demonstrated by his recordings with Chopin and Rachmaninoff. But Lars David Kellner's work goes far beyond that of a conventional concert pianist. This is also reflected in the instruments that the artist involves in addition to the Concert Grand Piano: Harmonium and Celesta. With his recording of the complete harmonium works of Franz Liszt and Max Reger on a total of 7 albums from 2020-2023, he is putting an exclamation mark in music circles.

"Kellner's (...) recording not only continues the rehabilitation of the harmonium (...), but also makes a significant contribution to the interpretation of Liszt's sacred compositions" (M. Straeter, Deutsche Liszt-Gesellschaft, 2021)

Kellner's universality in terms of keyboard instruments constantly generates the unheard: first recordings abound on each of his recent albums. With great devotion the artist gives himself to his three keyboard instruments: The piano, the harmonium and the celesta. Inspired by his special commitment to the celesta, the Japanese composer Kazue Isida dedicated to him in 2022 the world's most comprehensive work for solo celesta, with over 1300 pages.

„Lars David Kellner can embrace these sensations in my compositions – he is a man of great measure.“ (K. Isida, Komponist, 2022)

Besides his work on the instrument, Lars David Kellner often spends countless hours deciphering composers' manuscripts to get to the bottom of the musical truth. And so the presentation of this meticulous work on stage is authentic and refreshingly different. There is always something new and surprising in Kellner's repertoire: With the premiere of the original version of Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", he achieved widespread media interest and six-figure clicks on the web.

„A great performance of 'Pictures', and additional piano pieces (…) absolutely beautiful, [some] recorded on Horowitz’s Steinway.“ (J. Harrington, American Record Guide, 2010)

Kellner's love of the word, whether spoken or sung, leads to artistic projects with singers such as Frauke May, Idunnu Münch and Susanna Proskura. His song texts of some of Sergei Rachmaninoff's romances, adapted into German, were published by Sikorski in 2015. With the narrator Susanne Sperrhake, he has been touring with concert melodramas for several years. Invitations to international music festivals attest to the appeal of Kellner's programs: Music that is not primarily aiming to please, but has as its highest criterion a relentless musical honesty. Under this premise, Lars David Kellner's sound message particularly resonates with the audience. His respect for the authenticity of the works forbids any form of exaggerated self-staging. Here, the focus is solely on the music, which in its originality is undoubtedly far away from the mainstream of ordinary classical music playlists.

Lars David Kellner (* 1973 in Weiden) is a multiple graduate pianist of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and lives in Bavaria.

Musical stations: Franz Ondrusek (Weiden), Erich Appel (Nuremberg), Karl-Hermann Mrongovius (Munich).

Musical accompanists: Klaus Schilde, Eckart Besch, Elza Kolodin.