German pianist Severin von Eckardstein began studying music at the age of 6 and became a student at the Robert Schumann High School in Dusseldorf at 12. His principal teachers were Barbara Szczepanska and Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. While attending the Berlin University of the Arts, he studied with Klaus Hellwig, and after receiving his degree, he pursued studies at the International Piano Academy in Lake Como, Italy. During this time, he attended master classes by taught by Vitalij Margulis, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Alicia de Larrocha, Leon Fleisher and Menahem Pressler, and took private lessons from Alfred Brendel. A regular competitor, he placed third at the Leeds International Piano Competition and won the Belgian International Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2003. He has performed widely as a recitalist, chamber artist, and concerto soloist and has toured the world, performing in Berlin, Munich, Moscow, London, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul. He has appeared in concert with leading conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Philippe Herreweghe, Lothar Zagrosek, Paavo Järvi, Marek Janowski, and Jaap van Zweden. Eckardstein's repertoire is large, extending from the Baroque era to the 21st century, and he has recorded music by composers as diverse as Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Medtner, Bartók, Prokofiev, and Messiaen.