Claudia-Maria Klinkenberg first studied musicology in Bonn before completing her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano at the Karlsruhe University of Music between 1984 and 1992. There she initially had a teaching position. She continued her piano studies with Prof. Peter Feuchtwanger, London, Prof. Georg Sawa, Berlin, and Prof. Emilia Fadini, Milan, among others.
She has given concerts extensively in Germany and throughout the world, including in Bonn, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Münster and the Bach city of Köthen. Munich, Milan, Paris, Vienna, Los Angeles, New Delhi, Qing Dao China, and had radio and TV appearances.
Four successful CD productions demonstrate her broad spectrum, including classical piano music, world music and children's songs. Knut Franke, Herausgeber der Zeitschrift FonoForum, beurteilte ihre Albéniz Einspielung als „reif für den Deutschen Schallplattenpreis“.
In Ettlingen she directed the festival “Klassik im Kasino” and founded the orchestra “Camerata Ettlingen”, with which she performed several times at the Watthalden Festival, among others.
She has been active in the piano business since 1985. From 2008 onwards she built up her own collection of historic grand pianos. From 2014 with her company Palace Pianos, which became Klinkenberg Pianoforte GmbH in 2021. Besides her, three piano makers, a restorer, and an IT specialist work here. Thanks to her international network, Claudia Klinkenberg is able to offer important instruments time and again, such as the Pleyel by Fréderic Chopin, considered by Paul Cutts/Christie’s London to be the most important grand piano in the world, a Pleyel by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, and others in 2021.
Claudia Klinkenberg has been married to Dr. Carl Rudolf Klinkenberg since 1989. She is Catholic and speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Cologne dialect.
She holds various honorary positions as chairwoman of the Association for International Music Culture Ettlingen eV, at Ettlingen music clubs, and in the church community of her town.