Birgit Minichmayr with the piano duo Chris Hopkins & Bernd Lhotzky

Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr trained with Klaus Maria Brandauer and others at the renowned Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. During her studies, Minichmayr was already engaged at the Vienna Burgtheater, where she made her debut in 1998. After a production by Frank Castorf at the Ruhrfestspiele, she moved to the Volksbühne Berlin in 2004 for further collaborations with the renowned director. She returned to the Vienna Burgtheater in 2007 and then appeared on the stage of the Residenztheater in Munich from 2011 to 2016. Minichmayr has also appeared several times, most recently in 2012, as Buhlschaft in 'Jedermann' at the Salzburg Festival. The actress is also active in film and television productions and was presented as a 'European Shooting Star' for Austria at the 2001 Berlinale. Minichmayr appeared in Tom Tykwer's 'Perfume' (2005); she also starred alongside Lars Eidinger in 'Alle anderen' (2009) and played Jürgen Vogel in the film 'Gnade' (2012). Most recently, she took on the female lead in 'Nur Gott kann mich richten' (2017) and this year played the leading supporting role in the multi-award-winning film '3 Tage in Quiberon', for which she received the German Film Award. Minichmayr has also been honored several times with the Nestroy Theater Prize (2000, 2004, 2009) and received the Silver Bear for her role in 'Alle anderen' at the Berlinale 2009 as well as the German Film Critics' Award for Best Actress in the same year. This year, in addition to the German Film Award, she was also awarded the Honorary Prize of the Bolzano Film Festival; according to the jury, Minichmayr is one of the 'best and most excessive actresses of her generation'. The Austrian is currently in front of the camera with Hannelore Elsner for the drama 'Kirschblüten & Dämonen'.

Chris Hopkins and Bernd Lhotzky have been a congenial team for over 20 years and are now each one of the world's leading representatives of classical jazz piano. Together they founded the internationally successful and multi-award-winning quartet "Echoes of Swing" in 1997 and also regularly tour the globe as soloists. The encounters between the two virtuosos on two pianos - always spiced up with a humorous moderation and spontaneous stage presentation - have long since achieved cult status. In addition to all the important styles of classic jazz, the Harlem stride piano has been at the center of their shared interest from the very beginning. Stride piano is a piano style rich in tone color, overflowing with energy and wit, yet highly refined, full of nuances and subtle shadings. It demands absolute stylistic confidence from the pianist and maximum mastery of the instrument. Celebrated on two grand pianos, this music becomes a very special kind of chamber music challenge, which cannot be denied a certain sporting aspect. In addition to the style-defining compositions of the pioneers of the genre, the program includes intelligent arrangements of countless standards from the Great American Songbook, unforgettable compositions by great songwriters such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.