German pianist Markus Becker was a student of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and was mentored by Alfred Brendel. He won the International Brahms Competition in Hamburg in 1987. Becker has performed music from the Baroque period to the modern era, as well as jazz. He is a frequent guest artist at major music events, including the Ruhr Piano Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and the Kissinger Sommer. He has appeared with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as several other orchestras. Becker has been a professor at the Hanover Academy for Music, Theatre, and Media since 1993, and he gives lectures at the International Music Academy for Soloists in Hanover. He recorded the complete piano works of Max Reger on Thorofon, for which he received the German Record Prize in 2000. He has also recorded for CPO, Dreyer-Gaido, and Hyperion, among other labels.