Biography
Born in Toulouse in 1993, Kassandra Siebel received her first guitar lessons at the age of seven from Pia Gazarek-Offermann. In 2009 she became an early student at the Young Academy Rostock and studied with Prof. Dr. Thomas Offermann at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock until 2018. Since 2018 she has continued her classical guitar studies in The Hague with Zoran Dukić.
During her studies she received temporary support from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation and the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now programme, which enabled her to perform in hospitals and other places for people unable to attend concerts.
She has performed throughout Germany, including as a soloist with the HMT Rostock orchestra in the “Young Up-and-Coming Talents” series, in the Laeiszhalle Hamburg for the “Teatime Classics” series, for the Vera Ritter Foundation in the Grosser Mozartsaal Hamburg, and at the Charlottenburg Town Hall during the Festival of the International Guitar Academy Berlin.
Kassandra Siebel gave her debut concert in Spain at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra “Ciudad de Coria”. She appeared in the NDR series “Young Artists from the North” in 2015 and participated in a Terra-X production on ZDF in 2013.
Her first CD “Premiere” was released by MG Audio in 2015. Since 2018 she has been endorsed by Guitarlift. She has been a D’Addario Artist since 2020.
She also completed additional studies in elementary music education to introduce music to children in a playful way. She volunteered at the Rostock asylum seekers’ home, where she made music weekly with children. It is important to her that everyone has access to music as a form of expression and communication. In 2019 she played a large benefit concert tour for “Guitars instead of guns”, a project by Brot für die Welt supporting the reintegration of former child soldiers in the Congo, some of whom learn guitar making.
Chamber music projects
Since 2020, Kassandra Siebel has been a member of the Asambura Ensemble.
The ensemble creates dialogues between classical music and non-European musical cultures, developing new perspectives on cultural heritage. Diverse timbres, melodies and rhythms meet European classical repertoire and contemporary sounds.
Founded in Hannover in 2013, the ensemble unites musicians of different nationalities and stylistic backgrounds. Its work has focused especially on East African music, with rehearsal phases and concerts in Tanzania in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Further influences stem from Persian and Arabic musical traditions.
The ensemble’s instrumentation ranges from Persian Santur, Arabian Oud and West African Kora to Marimba, Udu Drum, prepared piano and extended techniques such as “Trombone Muezzin” and “Flute Percussion”. The compositions and arrangements by Maximilian Guth have received several national and international awards.
Awards
3rd Prize Sarajevo International Guitar Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2017)
1st Prize Festival Internacional de Guitarra “Ciudad de Coria”, junior competition, Spain (2012)
1st Prize International Festival de Guitarra “Ciutat d’Elx”, junior competition, Spain (2012)
1st Prize German national competition “Jugend musiziert” with 25/25 points (2012)
3rd Prize Sarajevo International Guitar Festival, junior competition, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012)
3rd Prize Lions Club Rostock (2010)
1st Prize German national competition “Jugend musiziert” with 24/25 points (2009)
2nd Prize German national competition “Jugend musiziert” with 22/25 points (2006)
Further information
ZONTA Award at the German national competition “Jugend musiziert” (2012)
Special Award of the Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben at the German national competition “Jugend musiziert” (2012)
She has participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned guitarists including Aniello Desiderio, Zoran Dukić, Marcin Dylla, Carlo Marchione, Paolo Pegoraro, Pavel Steidl and Benjamin Verdery.
