Pianist
Marlies Debacker (*1992) is a Belgian pianist working in contemporary classical and experimental music, based in Cologne, Germany.
Equally at home in both notated new music and improvised music, Marlies has developed and refined her voice as an emerging pianist working at the intersection of interpretation and improvisation.
As a soloist, Marlies creates exciting recital projects like the program Stromklavier – music for piano and electronics.
2016 she founded Trio Abstrakt – one of the leading chamber music groups of its generation – which regularly performs at major festivals of contemporary music and currently works towards the premieres of new works by composers Giorgio Netti, Isabel Mundry, Alberto Posadas, Franck Bedrossian, Milica Djordjević and many more. She is frequently invited to perform with ensembles like Ensemble Musikfabrik, ICTUS, Kammerelektronik, Ensemble Garage & hand werk.
Marlies has cultivated a distinguished musical language that draws from her experiences in working in contemporary music while at the same time pursuing playfulness. For her work as an improviser, she was nominated for the ‘Deutscher Jazzpreis’ 2023, category piano. She was awarded scholarships by the InSzene program (Podium Gegenwart/Deutscher Musikrat), Deutsche Orchester-Stiftung and Kulturamt Stadt Köln and is currently being supported by NICA artist development.
Following her piano studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen, Marlies completed her Master in Improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and her Master of classical contemporary Music with Prof. Barbara Maurer (formerly Ensemble Recherche) & Benjamin Kobler (Ensemble Musikfabrik) at the Folkwang Universität der Künste Essen.
Marlies currently teaches piano, free improvisation and contemporary piano techniques at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
