BIOGRAPHY

Lucian Plessner taught himself to play the classical guitar and gave his first solo recital at the age of 15. He then studied at the Musikhochschule Cologne, Germany among others with the Amadeus Quartet.

After his university studies he lived five years in Córdoba, Spain where he earned international attention, when a Spanish concert agency arranged a countrywide concert tour of guitar recitals for him – a remarkable tribute for a foreign guitarist. The pianist Alexis Weissenberg recommended him to Alicia de Larrocha, with whom he worked on his entire Spanish concert repertoire.

He has performed from San Francisco to Moscow and has played in prestigious concert halls like the Musikhalle Hamburg and the Konzerthaus Vienna, Harvard University (Bernstein festival Boston to Broadway). From 1996 on, he has been invited to Moscow six times and performed at the Festival „Moscow Autumn“ featuring exclusively contemporary music. In St. Petersburg he gave the first solo recital ever in the famous Smolny Cathedral.

Lucian Plessner, encouraged and authorized by the great master himself, created a sensation with his arrangements of music by Leonard Bernstein for solo guitar (CD Bernstein on Guitar, cpo/DeutschlandRadio). In 1994, he performed this repertoire for Lord Yehudi Menuhin in person at his birthday celebration. In the same year he appeared in international festivals such as the „Kfar Blum Chamber music Festival, Israel“, and the „Settimani Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore“ where he shared the platform with renowned artists like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Shlomo Mintz and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Lichtkonzert mit Bach

The Lute Works by Johann Sebastian Bach with a light choreography designed by Tom Brigham, New York (winner of the American Academy Award) premiered at Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, Germany on May 9th 2006

With It Must Be So Lucian Plessner created a new concert format – recital and narration – featuring the life and work of Leonard Bernstein. This program was premiered by the America House, Cologne on Leonard Bernstein’s 90th  birthday 2008 and produced by WDR Broadcast Cologne, Germany in 2011.

In 2012 Ramdom House, Germany published The Wandering Tower, writings by Sergei Prokofiev, translated and edited by Lucian Plessner.

In addition Prokofiev’s heirs granted permission to Mr. Plessner to transcribe and perform the music by Sergei Prokofiev.

October 2014 Lucian Plessner gave solo recitals featuring Argentinean music in Argentina – Buenos Aires and Moisés Ville.

In 2015 he gave two Leonard Bernstein commemoration recitals in Hong Kong on Nov. 4 and 6

2016 second premiere of Stephen Dodgson Guitar Concerto no.2 with Philharmonisches Orchester Plauen-Zwickau, Germany, Nov 3 and 4, the first performance of this piece after the premiere with the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester, GB in 1974.

The arrangement of Leonard Bernstein Suite from West Side Story for guitar and orchestra is now available at Boosey&Hawkes, Berlin, London, New York. The piece was premiered on October 13 and 14, 2018 with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Matthew Kraemer, conductor in Indianapolis,IN