Philipp Rhein (1998, Munich) is a German-Afghan pianist and composer whose work spans opera, film, theatre, dance, and concert music. A laureate of numerous national and international competitions, he brings together a distinguished background as a concert pianist with an interdisciplinary compositional practice shaped by collaborations across music, stage, and film.

Since relocating to China in August 2026, Rhein has pursued his compositional work at The Tianjin Juilliard School, in close collaboration with composers Niccolo Athens, David Ludwig, Amy Beth Kirsten, among others. His work there encompasses chamber and orchestral projects and is developed in close exchange with performers and ensembles. In addition, he serves as a Music Theory Coach in Juilliard’s Pre-College program.

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Rhein’s recent work has increasingly centred on interdisciplinary and large-scale stage projects. In February 2025, the Zurich University of the Arts premiered DRIFT, his first full-length opera and the first opera based on a libretto by acclaimed American playwright, screenwriter, and director Neil LaBute. His music has also been presented by the Zurich Opera House, including works created for #Takeoff and What the Fugue. In recent years, he has composed extensively for film, theatre, and dance, with films featuring his scores presented at festivals in Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Nepal, and the United States.

In June 2024, Rhein graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts with Forgotten Land, a five-movement work for two pianos and six dancers conceived as an integrated music-and-movement performance. He subsequently completed his Master’s studies in composition with Till Löffler and in piano performance with the internationally acclaimed pianist Ragna Schirmer in June 2026, supported by a Fondation ZHdK scholarship.

As a pianist, Rhein has received numerous distinctions from an early age, including four special prizes at the International Piano Podium, two first prizes at the International Karel Kunc Competition, and the WESPE Special Prize for Best Original Work. He made his orchestral debut in 2017 as a scholarship holder of the Altenburg Music Academy in Vienna, performing Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D major with the Vienna International Orchestra. Further concerto appearances followed with the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Wernigerode in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra in Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

His artistic development has been shaped by guidance from distinguished musicians at leading institutions in Europe and the United States. At The Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he worked with pianists including Robert McDonald, Hung-Kuan Chen, Michelle Cann, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Further, he participated in masterclasses with Boris Berman, James Giles, Andrea Bonatta, Jorge Luis Prats, and Jun Kanno, among others.

Alongside his musical training, Rhein completed a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of Konstanz, specializing in Econometrics and Applied Economics. His parallel engagement with quantitative economics and music reflects a broader interest in the relationship between analytical structures, artistic intuition, and complex systems.