“What a multitude of colors and a brilliant tone, and what a beautiful way of opening the theme of the slow movement!” wrote the critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung in his review of Lukas Sternath’s performance for the final round of the 2022 ARD Music Competition, where the 21-year old Austrian not only garnered First Prize, but also the Audience Prize and the award for the best interpretation of the commissioned work by Martón Illés. “I could hardly be happier or prouder”, tweeted Sternath’s teacher Igor Levit referring to that triumph of his “wonderful pupil”. Now Lukas Sternath shall make his first appearance at the Ruhr Piano Festival. For his début he has selected a series of outstanding late works from the output of three composers: Schubert’s Sonata in C Minor, Brahms’s Klavierstücke op. 118, and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 in B Flat Major, the “War Sonata”.