Who I am

My upbringing is best described as “open house”. And I am fortunate still to be part of an open-minded and well travelled family. Early exposure to different cultures from around the globe I see now as a considerable privilege. My infatuation for the piano was there by the time I was three. But what child can recognise its own true talents at such a tender age? What I did feel very early in my life was a love for communicating my thoughts to others within diverse cultural and artistic contexts. It remains no coincidence that I was to have an immediate rapport with many a renowned classical artist in my subsequent professional career.

In 1995, I was appointed as the first Head of Communication of the Federal German Film Board (FFA). The board remains one of Europe’s major film funding institutions, with an annual budget of around 130 million Euros. Shortly after that, I built up the “Filmstiftung NRW” in Düsseldorf with Dieter Kosslick, to whom I reported in my new-found role of Director of Communication & Marketing. When, in 2000, he took office in Berlin as Director of the International Film Festival Berlin, I moved with him and kept my position. Here, I was joint Head of Department for Communication at the Berliner Festspiele GmbH. It was Joachim Sartorius who breathed fresh life into the enterprise, this under the auspices of the German Federal Government.

In 2003, I was asked to recreate the International Communication Department at BMG Classics. I took up the new offer with alacrity, helping the company emerge with a new, international label roster (RCA RED SEAL, deutsche harmonia mundi, and ARTE NOVA). Bertelsmann AG had given the go-ahead to build up an innovative catalogue of classical, jazz and contemporary music. Two years later, the operation was bought by SONY Classical international, where I remained. I continued to run the International Communications Department, reporting to the President of SONY Classical Worldwide.

In 2010, I took this experience and founded my own consultancy. The office is in Munich, but I am keeping an eye on things in Shanghai and Istanbul, which are proving just as interesting right now. Time will tell. These are not mutually exclusive aims.