Stephan Baier, Piano

Biography

My name is Stephan Baier. I was born on 6.2.1973 in Rostock (Germany) and went to school in Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder). Between 1991 and 1997, I studied mathematics and physics at the Freie Universität Berlin, where I also did my PhD in mathematics in 2000. Between 2000 and 2012, I have held temporary postdoctoral positions, lectureships and professorships at many institutes and universities in the world, including Berlin (Germany), Allahabad (India), Cambridge (UK), Budapest (Hungary), Kingston (Canada), Bremen (Germany), Bristol (UK) and Göttingen (Germany). Now I'm a lecturer in mathematics at the University of East Anglia (UK). My research area is analytic number theory.

My father worked as a professional violinist, so it was natural for me to learn playing the violine as well. I started at the age of 7 and stopped at the age of 14 because my interests turned more in the direction of mathematics and physics then. During this time, I took weekly lessons and practised daily for about an hour. In addition, I always loved to play the piano, but just for fun. I never took lessons and just learned by doing. For this reason, my technical capabilities on the piano are quite limited. However, I love to improvise, and from time to time, I play pieces of Bach from the Well-Tempered Piano and the Art of Fugue. When I find some time, I also compose short pieces.

I play my piano improvisations sometimes without any preparations (for example numbers 11,12 and 13) and sometimes with a lot of preparations (for example numbers 2, 6 and 10). In the latter case, I try a lot of things with the themes I have in mind before I actually make a recording.

My favorite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach. Other composers I like very much are Carlo Gesualdo, Henry Purcell, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Anton Bruckner, Alban Berg, Alfred Schnittke and Moondog (Louis T. Hardin). 

My professional homepage is: http://xwww.uni-math.gwdg.de/sbaier/