Teachers of the Ulm Piano School

Born in Ulm, the pianist received his first lessons at the age of nine and trained at the Ulm Music School. He successfully took part in competitions at an early age, including Jugend musiziert, the Yamaha Piano Competition and international festivals.

In 2012, he began his studies at the Trossingen University of Music with Prof. Wolfgang and Prof. Raluca Wagenhäuser with a focus on piano and a teaching qualification, which he completed with top marks. His training was supplemented by master classes with Prof. Gerhard Oppitz and Prof. Konrad Elser, among others.

As a musician, Ülker has gained extensive experience in chamber music and piano accompaniment and regularly performs at concerts, for example at the Ulm Culture Night. In addition to his artistic activities, he works passionately as a piano teacher and school director.

Nadja Niederberger is responsible for marketing and administrative tasks. She can also be reached by phone.

One of her great strengths lies in the social area, which is why it is important to her to maintain a good relationship with employees and customers.
Nadja Niederberger is passionate about the children’s area “PiaNino Kinderwelt”. She has experience in the field of psychology such as “giftedness in children”, “underarchy” and “ADD/ADHD”. Nadja Niederberger develops learning strategies for children and loves to work with them.

The young pianist from Shanghai, China, has been learning the piano since childhood and was finally admitted to the Trossingen State Academy of Music through diligence and talent, where she worked as an assistant accompanist. Later she worked as a piano teacher at the Donaueschingen Conservatory.

During her studies she studied with the American pianist, artistic director and deputy rector of the HfM Trossingen Prof. Peter Nelson, Prof. Irmgard Priester, and Prof. Jacques Ammon. She participated in many concerts and master classes, such as Trossingen Meisterklasse Lied Akademie, Meisterklasse Internationaler Kultur- und Kunstaustausch Lübeck and visited with the Prof. Ulrich Eisenlohr, Prof. Manfred Aust , Prof. Konrad Elser . She has also participated in concerts in Shanghai, Trossingen, Hamburg and other cities. In 2017, she was a keynote speaker at the German-Chinese Cultural Exchange Concert at Tongji University in Shanghai, and in 2016 he participated in the live music short film concert “Der andere Blick” in Villingen-Schwenningen. In 2014 she also gave the concert “New Music” with the school orchestra.

In terms of her studies and professional skills, she completed two master’s degrees specializing in solo piano, piano pedagogy and artistic song composition . It can be seen that the young pianist’s musical talent and outstanding skills have been well tempered and cultivated.

Sofia Kourtidou was born in Greece. She received her first piano lessons at the age of 7. In 2004 she began her studies in piano and theory as a scholarship student at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki. After receiving her diploma in 2011, she completed a master’s degree in piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Künste Bremen in the class of Hubert Rutkowski in 2015. In July 2015, she completed her studies as a specialist in early musical education at the Music College Hannover.

Sofia Kourtidou has been teaching piano students since 2013. From 2015 to 2021 she worked as a piano teacher at the Neu-Ulm Music School. Since 2022 she has been working as a piano teacher in the Ulm Piano School and she is studying music education at the University of Nicosia. Her students have successfully completed high school exams and entrance exams, as well as winning first prizes in Jugend Musiziert competitions. Students applying for music majors were successfully prepared by her.

She has given concerts as a soloist and as a chamber music pianist in Greece and Germany and participated in concerts in Italy and Austria. In 2010, she appeared in two TV programs of the Greek State Television (ERT) on the subject of classical music. In addition to her musical education, Sofia Kourtidou graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a degree in architecture.

The Chinese pianist Nan Xiao received her first piano lessons at the age of four. In 2014, she studied musicology at the Shenyang Music High School in China. In 2016, she came to Germany, and in 2021 she graduated from the Kassel Academy of Music with a major in instrumental pedagogy, a major in piano, and a minor in organ, with a major grade of 1.0. In 2022 she studied pedagogical master-class musicianship at the Trossingen University of Music, conducting research on the musical-aesthetic education of children and adolescents.

Nan Xiao completed her pianistic training with Ivan Urwalov and Prof. Raluca Chifane-Wagenhäuser as well as at various master classes with Andrzej Jasinski, Lars Vogt, Manfred Aust, Florian Uhlig and Clemens Rave, among others. She has performed many times on her musical path as a pianist, organist, chamber musician and accompanist.

Through her artistic-pedagogical life path, Nan Xiao has acquired good tools for teaching students. “To teach means to believe in continuation. Not only passing insights to students, but also communicating ideas with them, sparking the desire for more insights in them.” This is Nan Xiao’s belief as a piano teacher.