Michael Gees is a German pianist, composer, and improviser, and the founder of the Consol Theatre in Gelsenkirchen. Born into a musical family, he began playing the piano at the age of three, received formal lessons at five, and won the Steinway Competition in Hamburg at eight. He studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and later at universities in Vienna and Detmold before leaving home at 15 to support himself with various jobs and spending two years at sea, after which he resumed his studies in piano and composition in Hanover in 1974. From 1980 onward, he worked as a freelance pianist and composer, and in 1989 founded the kunstvereint forum, which later became part of the Consol Theatre in Gelsenkirchen. He has collaborated with artists including Christoph Prégardien and Julia Kleiter, performing at venues such as Wigmore Hall. He has also taught improvisation and vocal invention at the Cologne Academy of Music and Dance.
