Seth Schultheis is an American pianist based in London who recently won First Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the 2025 Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn. Fluent in a wide range of styles and composers, Seth is also a dedicated performer of contemporary music. 

 

After his success in the TBC, Seth performed Beethoven Concerto No. 2 with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under the direction of Dirk Kaftan for the Beethovenhalle New Year’s Concert, where his playing was described as “brilliant”, imbued with “clarity and precision”, “refined sensitivity”, and “rhythmic vitality” (General Anzeiger Bonn).

 

Since the beginning of 2026, Seth has been invited to the 30th Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, where he performed Beethoven Concerto No. 3 with Sinfonia Iuventus and Alexander Humala at the National Philharmonic. He subsequently embarked on an 8-concert tour throughout Germany with the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and conductors Rafaël Merlin and Julien Leroy, performing Beethoven Concerto No. 4 in such venues as Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg. He has since performed many recitals around Europe and the US, most recently at Beethovenfest in Bonn. During the summer, Seth continued his fellowship with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and he will perform solo recitals at Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival and Wigmore Hall.​​

 

Seth has performed extensively in the US and UK, in such venues as Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, U.S. State Department, and Ely Cathedral, in addition to solo recitals in venues such as Teatro Cajasol (Seville) and Mendelssohnhaus (Leipzig). During the summer of 2020, he organized and performed an online recital series with 13 different programs and commentary, entitled “Saturday Streams”. 

 

Seth has also performed as a soloist with aLUMNI Orchestra of Cambridge, Musica Europa, New York Session Symphony, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, and Londontowne Symphony Orchestra with Stephen Armstrong, Marius Stravinsky, Benjamin Niemczyk, George Manahan, Russell Ger, and Anna Binneweg. 

 

Past competition highlights include winning Grand Prize in the 2017 Osaka International Music Competition, Fourth Prize and Best Commissioned Piece at the 2022 New York International Piano Competition, Finalist in the 2024 Washington International Piano Competition, and Second Prize in the Dudley International Piano Competition in Birmingham. 

 

Seth is a passionate collaborator across different artistic disciplines, and has worked with dance and theater companies such as New Chamber Ballet, Fluid Creature Collective, Spokehouse Productions, and Columbia Musical Theater Society, in projects that have involved conducting, improvising, and composing original music. 

 

An avid chamber musician, Seth attended the intensive Ashkenazi/Kirschbaum Chamber Music Seminar at Heifetz Institute in 2021 with fellow Erda Trio members Carlos Martínez Arroyo and Nicco Mazziotto. Seth also toured with Carlos through Spain and the Netherlands, performing in notable venues including Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and Teatro Jardinito in Cabra. For the past two years, he has also performed duo/trio recitals with Fabian and Eliane Menzel in the Schlosskonzerte Neuenburg concert series in Zetel, Germany.

 

Other summer festivals attended include MusicFest Perugia, Baltimore International Piano Festival, EuroArts Music Festival and Academy (Halle), Summit Music Festival, International Academy of Music (Castelnuovo di Garfagnana), and he has received additional lessons and masterclasses from world-renowned pianists such as Yefim Bronfman, Anton Nel, Leon Fleisher, John O'Conor, Simone Dinnerstein, and Jerome Lowenthal, amongst others.

 

He received the majority of his training at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was twice awarded the Harold Bauer Prize. He attended Precollege and earned a Bachelor’s Degree under the tutelage of Phillip Kawin, before completing a Master’s Degree with Solomon Mikowsky, with additional lessons from Wael Farouk and Jiayin Li. Most recently, he earned a Professional Diploma with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music with Mei-Ting Sun, and was selected as an Aud Jebsen Fellow for the following year. 

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Updated September 2026