In 2010, the Circle of Ruhr Initiatives (Initiativkreis Ruhr) decided to restructure the Ruhr Piano Festival under the auspices of a Foundation – a bold, innovative step which also foresaw a gradual reduction of the Initiativkreis’s own annual contribution as main Festival sponsor. At that point I had to muster a great deal of courage to remain confident in the face of such a formidable financial challenge. On the one hand, I had to succeed in stabilizing or even increasing the level of corporate sponsoring. In recent years I also implemented a series of successful fundraising measures by contacting a number of generous philanthropists. Indeed, for our new Jubilee Circle we have enlisted the support of more than 200 enthusiastic donors, whom I had the honor to invite to a special recital given on 17 November 2019 by the great pianist Olli Mustonen on the occasion of our Second Jubilee Circle Gala in Gartrop Castle. We already had the pleasure of hearing the renowned piano duo Yaara Tal & Andreas Groethuysen at an exclusive gala recital on 18 November 2018.

On the occasion of the Ruhr Piano Festival’s 30th birthday we launched our new Jubilee Circle initiative. It was officially inaugurated in our Second Foundation Concert on 9 March 2018 in Wuppertal’s Historische Stadhalle, in the company of eighteen artists who have been close friends of the Festival for many years. The previous campaign was the Silver Circle, launched in 2013 under the patronage of Traudl Herrhausen to commemorate the Ruhr Piano Festival’s 25th anniversary. A total of 290 donors responded to her invitation with contributions that helped to reinforce the Ruhr Piano Festival Foundation’s financial stability.