Getting To Know Danae Dörken

Our 2022-23 Rising Star Series continues Sunday, November 13 with a performance by Danae Dörken at 4 PM in the Wellspring Theater. Ms. Dörken took some time to tell us a little more about herself as she prepares to visit Kalamazoo to play selections from her fifth album, Odyssee. Buy an in-person or virtual ticket today for the concert.

Where are you playing in the near future? Is there a venue you are most excited about?
After my U.S. concerts in November, I am performing throughout Germany, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, France, in various cities in Greece, and touring in South Africa. I am very excited about my concerto tour in South Africa, since it is a country I haven’t traveled to yet. I am also very much looking forward to performing the 2nd piano concerto of female composer Marie Jaell together with the Brandenburg State Symphony Orchestra in the beautiful Konzerthalle Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Munich, Germany. 

Is there a highlight of your year so far that has nothing to do with your music?
My five-year-old son learned how to ride a bike all by himself. 😉 

Is there something you enjoy when you are not practicing, playing, or traveling?
I love to be quite active when I am away from the piano and do yoga every day after I wake up. It feels great to stretch out my body before I sit at a piano for multiple hours every day and it also gives me the ability to focus and concentrate on whatever I want to achieve on that day. Apart from that, I also love to do more extreme sports from time to time that give me a certain adrenaline kick that I look for. Most recently, I went skydiving and bungee jumping. 

If you had any advice for young pianists that want to change their passion into a career, what would it be?
Be prepared for it to require a lot of work, passion and dedication. But within all of that, be yourself and always stay true to yourself, your beliefs and your artistic taste.