Rolf Plagge was appointed Professor of Piano at the Mozarteum University in 1991. His busy concert schedule takes him all over the world, especially to South America, South Korea, and Japan, where he regularly gives piano recitals and masterclasses. He has collaborated with Wolfgang Manz since 1988 to build up the "Klavierduo Königin Elisabeth," which has received international recognition. The duo is especially well known for performances of their own transcriptions of Stravinsky's ballets Petrushka, Le Sacre du Printemps, and The Firebird, as well as lesser-known repertoire for two pianos by masters such as Tcherepnin and Khachaturian.
Rolf Plagge (b. 1959 in Westerstede) received his first piano lessons at the age of six. He began his studies at the Musikhochschule Hamburg with Peter-Jürgen Hofer while still at school, and after obtaining his Abitur, he entered Vitaly Margulis' class at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg in Breisgau. This laid the technical foundations of his playing and opened up the entire spectrum of Russian piano repertoire for Plagge. From 1981, he continued his studies with Paul Badura-Skoda at Vienna University of Music. A scholarship from the German Study Foundation enabled him to study at the Julliard School of Music with Gyorgy Sandor in 1983. In 1991, Plagge passed the soloist exam to complete his studies in the class of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Music Academy in Hanover.
Rolf Plagge has enjoyed success at many competitions at home and abroad, including taking first prize at the Hamburg Steinway Competition five times in a row. His first international prize came in 1979 at Senigallia piano competition (Italy) and was followed by successes at the Busoni competition in Bozen (1980), the ARD competition in Munich (1981), the Gina Bachauer competition in Salt Lake City (1984) and the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (1987). In 1990 he was honoured to become the first German pianist to win a prize in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition.
Encouraged by the reactions he received upon performing for faculty members at the Leningrad Conservatory while on a school trip to Moscow and Leningrad in 1977, and subsequently as a result of his studies with Vitaly Margulis, Plagge feels particularly emotionally drawn to the Russian piano repertoire. In addition, he devotes himself increasingly to lesser-known piano concertos (Barber op.38 , Szymanowsky op.60, Weiske op.20, Henze), with a special focus on the complete piano works by Szymanowsky. Some of Plagge's CD recordings are dedicated to very little-known repertoire, e.g. the second piano concerto by Hans-Werner Henze or the piano concertos by the Czech composer Georg Benda, with whose second piano concerto in G minor he recorded for the ES-DUR label. His recording of works by Franz Liszt for Tacet received excellent reviews from all media. Recordings of the piano works by K. Szymanowsky are available on the Aulos and Mozarteum records labels. Musicaphon has also released a CD with several chamber music works by Ludwig Spohr with the Pallas Trio (with Katrin Rabus and Wolfram Geiss).
In the field of chamber music, Plagge’s primary interest lies in the Classical and Romantic violin repertoire. In Belgium and Italy he has performed Beethoven's violin sonatas several times with the American violinist Andrew Hardy, and various works by Stravinsky and Szymanowsky with Christos Kanetti.
Viennese Classicism, Vol. II, Hamburg, music hall, large hall, live recording Georg Anton Benda: - E-flat major, No. 2027, 1994 Concerto for piano and string orchestra in G minor, Landessinfonieorchester Thüringen-Gotha, conductor: Hermann Breuer Louis Spohr - CANTATE MUSICAPHON, No. M 56822, 1995 Piano Trio in G minor op.142 Piano Trio in F major op.123 Rondo brillant for piano and violin op.51 Adagio in F major for piano and violoncello op.115 Pallas Trio (with Kathrin Rabus, violin and Wolfram Geiss, cello) Franz Liszt: Franz Liszt... con bravura! - TACET, No. 40, 1995 Tarantelle di bravura d'après la Tarantelle de la Muette de Portici (Auber) 3 Consolations Mephisto Waltz No.1 Gnome Dance, La Campanella Love Dream No.3 "Venezia i Napoli" (from the "Années de Pélerinage ", Italy) Hans Werner Henze: Piano Concerto No.2 (1967) - CPO / West German Broadcasting, No. 999 322-2, 1995 Northwest German Philharmonic, Conductor: Gerhard Markson Karol Szymanowsky: Piano Works 1 - AULOS, No. 66107, 2003 9 Préludes op.1 Variations on an original theme in B minor op.3 4 Etudes op.4 Variations on a Polish folk song in B minor op.10, 4 Polish Dances (1926) Karol Szymanowsky: Piano Works 2 - AULOS, No. 66144, 2004 Fantasy op.14 Métopes op.29 12 Etudes op.33 Masques op.34 Felix Woyrsch: The complete works for piano - AULOS, No. 66108, 2003 Preambulum d minor Musette G major Three nocturnes op.1 Two waltzes op. 8 Variations in C major, Op.17, Four Impromptus, Op.23, Eight Improvisations, Op.44, Four Metamorphoses, Op.48
CORDARIA CACD 551 THOROFON CTH 2297 DEBUSSY: En Blanc et Noir for 2 pianos, Marche écossaise RACHMANINOV: Suite No.1 op.5 “Fantaisie-tableaux” for 2 pianos; Suite No.2 op.17 for 2 pianos RAVEL: Rapsodie espagnole for 2 pianos THOROFON CTH 2298 MOZART: Sonata in D major KV 448 for 2 pianos SCHUBERT: Fantasy in F minor op.103 D 940 for piano 4 hands LISZT: Concerto pathétique in E minor for 2 pianos Russian and Armenian Music 2 - SOJUZ SOCD0003 CHEREPNIN: Fantasy on Chinese folk tales for 2 pianos KHATCHATURJAN: Dances from the ballet “Spartak” for 2 pianos; Dances from the ballet “Gayaneh” for 2 pianos; 3 pieces for 2 pianos ARUTJUNJAN /  ;BABAJANJAN: Armenian Rhapsody for 2 Pianos