THE TEAM
Claudia Klinkenberg
Claudia-Maria Klinkenberg was born in Bonn in 1964. After graduating from high school in 1983, she studied musicology in Bonn for two semesters. From 1984 to 1992, she studied piano in the Bachelor's and Master's programs at the Karlsruhe University of Music, where she also held a teaching position. After completing her university studies, she continued her studies with Prof. Peter Feuchtwanger, London, Prof. Georg Sawa, Berlin, Prof. Emilia Fadini, Milan.
As a pianist, she has performed in numerous cities in Germany and around the world, including Bonn, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Münster, the Bach city of Köthen. Munich, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Los Angeles and New Delhi, radio and TV appearances.
Four CD productions with classical piano music, world music and children's songs. Knut Franke, editor of the magazine FonoForum, judged her Albéniz recording to be "ripe for the German Record Award".
In Ettlingen, she organized the festival "Klassik im Kasino" twice on a voluntary basis and founded the orchestra "Camerata Ettlingen", with which she performed several times at the Watthaldenfestival, among others.
In 2015, she gave her last recital for the time being in Qingdao, PR China.
She has been in the piano business since 1985. From 2008, she built up her own collection of historical grand pianos. From 2014 with her company Palace Pianos, which became Klinkenberg Pianoforte GmbH in 2021. Three piano makers, two restorers, an IT specialist and two trainees work here in the former spinning mill; in addition to the managing director, there are two other women, which is rare in piano making. Thanks to her international network, Claudia Klinkenberg is always able to offer important instruments, such as the Pleyel by Fréderic Chopin, which Paul Cutts/Christie's London considers to be the most important grand piano in the world in 2021.
Claudia Klinkenberg has been married to Dr. Carl Rudolf Klinkenberg since 1989, is Catholic, speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian and Kölsch.
Honorary posts: 1st chairwoman of the Verein für internationale MusikKultur Ettlingen eV, voluntary work in Ettlingen music associations, including the Liedertafel.
Hans Milde
With over 20 years of experience as a piano maker and concert technician, he is constantly active in the music world.
Hans has experience working on all brands of pianos and grand pianos. Since he is a musician himself, he knows how to get the most beautiful sound out of the instruments.
Grzegorz Algiert
Grzegorz is a very experienced and thoroughly trained piano maker. He manages to make even the oldest pianos sound again. He is also a true artist with a lot of experience and perseverance when it comes to surface processing.
Joachim Partyka
Joachim complements our woodworking team. He is a trained specialist teacher for sports and technology and knows how to handle tools and use them correctly. His specialty is now surface refinement using shellac polishes.
Augustin Borta
Augustin has been a member of our team for 10 years. He has been there with all his heart since the company was founded - for the workshop, the projects and for the team. His knowledge as a trained toolmaker is always helpful for piano makers.
Jeremias Wismann
A young piano maker who has become an integral part of everyday workshop life! Jeremias completes our team with his high level of discipline, perseverance and hard work. No task bothers him and he completes all piano building work as if he had never done anything else before.
Elisabeth Schneider
Elisabeth is training to become a piano and harpsichord builder. Her hard work and ambition set her apart and she has long since become an important team member in the workshop. In addition to working on pianos and grand pianos, she is learning how to tune these instruments and is already helping to organize the first internal company processes.
Christine Lauinger
Christine is training to become a piano and harpsichord maker. She works with enthusiasm and craftsmanship in every area of the company.
Claudia Schmidt-Felderhoff and Markus Schmidt
We are very proud to work with Claudia and Markus, world-class restorers. They continue to complement our work in fantastic ways. Their expertise and experience in historic restorations is unparalleled.
Mahdi Sabbaghzadeh
IT Specialist
26 years experience in IT
Web Admin and Public relations agent
Microsoft and Network Engineer
Network Security Advisor
Project Manager
Languages: English, Persian, German.