»Something new is being created here«

Bonn pianist Fabian Müller has been Chairman of the of the Beethovenfest Bonn Circle of Friends since September 2022. We are delighted and proud that this brilliant artist and approachable person is so clearly demonstrating his commitment to the festival. In 2024, he performs in five concerts.

Fabian Müller’s local roots are not at odds with his career, which has recently been picking up speed internationally. At this year’s Beethovenfest, we will not only experience him on four evenings with all of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano sonatas, but also for the first time as conductor with his newly founded ensemble The Trinity Orchestra.

We meet Fabian Müller for a Zoom interview on one of those unusually cold winter days in mid-January. Through the window behind him, we can see into the snow-covered garden. He has just returned from a walk in the snow with his young daughter.

I didn’t think hard on it. On the one hand, I have the feeling that something new is being created artistically with Steven Walter and his team, and it’s a lot of fun to be part of this spirit of optimism. On the other hand, it is also very important to me to have an influence on music and art in my home region, the Rhineland. Of course, I’m pleased that I’m also increasingly busy internationally, but I don’t think that constantly giving concerts everywhere is ecologically sustainable or beneficial for me as a person, because you can’t build up a relationship with the local people.

I think it’s good that the position of chairman has been given to a musician to show how much this is about music. And I want to get in touch with people as often as possible and also promote the association, as a champion for the whole group, so to speak. But I actually see every single member of this association as being just as important as myself. We are a large group of people who want to work to make things better for music in Bonn.

That is correct. I also like the events that take place throughout the year and independently of Beethovenfest, where the Freundeskreis members meet for concerts in smaller groups or for the summer festival, and you get the feeling that the association is part of a lively musical life in Bonn. This musical life does not simply mean the consumption of art, but is driven by the desire to be together, to create together and to belong to a ›creative scene‹ in the city.

Yes, definitely: people sometimes think that Beethoven’s music is in the past and that our interest in it is just an echo. But I believe that the music continues to develop, as if along a thread. Experiencing music created in the past today and letting it have an effect on you is just as exciting and rewarding as it was when it was written. And to be close to the musicians who play it and the people who make the concerts possible, and to participate and contribute to its current development, is simply much more fun than just attending the festival as a guest.

I hope that we will continue to grow and also grow across the board, so to speak. The great thing is that there are so many different players in Bonn’s cultural scene. However, I would be delighted if Beethovenfest, which I also see as the spearhead of this scene internationally, appeals to music lovers even more broadly and also reaches people who have not had much to do with music before, but still want to be part of this community – not only because they enjoy every note of music, but also because they enjoy these creative moments experienced together in a group. This also has an integrative effect on urban society.

I think big projects bring people together. You can approach Beethoven’s music together, for example, even if you have different opinions and backgrounds. You can sometimes argue, but you have a great, beautiful thing – the music – that you believe in and enjoy together. That’s why going to a concert is a very direct democratic measure. I wish I could make the whole world a better place. But you also have a great responsibility to ensure that peace and tolerance are maintained in your own city, in your own home. Projects like Beethovenfest and its Circle of Friends are a very important civil society anchor for this.

The background to this is that I was invited by Daniel Barenboim to play all of Beethoven’s sonatas at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. It is of course a huge honour that he is entrusting me with his legacy, so to speak, as he hardly plays the piano himself any more. And I definitely wanted to bring this cycle to Bonn, whereby I was mainly inspired by the venues for the order: For example, the Hunting Sonata (No. 18) in the Knights’ Hall of the Godesburg, the bright, humanistic Waldstein Sonata (No. 21) in the Bundestag Plenary Hall.

Conducting has been my passion for a long time. Founding my own orchestra was always a crazy dream. But now I’ve just done it, and it awakens all my passions at once that we can perform a Beethoven symphony here at Beethovenfest. The artist Daniel Barenboim has always been a role model for me, but I could never have imagined that I would follow in his footsteps in my early thirties and perform all of Beethoven’s sonatas as well as his symphonies. But I’m not interested in a theoretical goal or an abstract record. Just the fact that I can occupy myself with Beethoven’s music every day gives me great inner joy, but also moments of longing peace.