Dorothea Ruijia Hanebuth was born in Hamburg in 2009. She began playing the piano at the age of five, initially with her grandmother Kekuan Wang from Beijing and, from 2019, with piano teacher Nataliya Bezpalova. Since 2024, Dorothea has been a junior student at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts with Prof. Adrian Oetiker.

Dorothea has won prizes and special awards at national and international competitions, such as the 14th Bach Competition for Young Piano Talents in Köthen (Anhalt) in 2025 and the 3rd International Carl Maria von Weber Piano Competition in Dresden (2024).

Since 2018, Dorothea has participated several times in the “Jugend musiziert” competition at various levels. As a pianist, she has always won first prizes in various categories (piano solo, piano four hands, piano duo and a string instrument). In 2023, she also won first prize with 25 points in the piano solo category at the national “Jugend musiziert” competition in Zwickau, as well as the Carl Bechstein Foundation’s special prize in the form of a scholarship. She also received a special prize from the German Music Foundation. In 2024, Dorothea and her playing partner (violin) won first prize (24 points) in the piano and string instrument category AG IV at the national competition “Jugend musiziert” in Lübeck and received a special prize for the outstanding interpretation of a classical work from the Tonkünstlerverband Mittelfranken e.V. (Middle Franconia Association of Composers). Due to her successes and first prizes with the highest number of points at the national competition “Jugend musiziert,” Dorothea was featured on BR-Klassik radio in 2023.

The German Music Foundation has awarded her the Carl-Heinz Illies Scholarship several times. In addition, Dorothea has been a scholarship holder at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein since September 2025 and participates in the intensive weeks and activities of the academy.

Dorothea regularly performs in the scholarship concerts of the Carl Bechstein Foundation. She has also played in the Great Hall of the Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg, the Red Hall of Pfinzingschloss Henfenfeld, the Semperoper in Dresden, the Stadttheater in Fürth, the Bach Church of St. Agnus in Köthen (Anhalt), and the Peter Kaiser Concert Hall of the Hagenhaus Nendeln in Liechtenstein. In the summer of 2025, Dorothea performed as a soloist at both the Dresden Music Festival and the Brandenburg Summer Concerts. In the fall of 2025, Dorothea performed several times at the Salon Luitpold during the Bach Festival in Munich.

Dorothea currently attends the Labenwolf Gymnasium, a music-focused high school in Nuremberg.

(Stand 2025)

Foto © Anne Schamberger und Carl Bechstein Stiftung