Culinary Art

Hannes Nimpuno is famed for his achievements as a musician and arts impressario, but there is another side to this multi-talented man. He has built a parallel career in a totally different area – the culinary arts! And, no surprise that he brings the same excellent standards to his cooking that he applies to everything he does. Although he has came late to professional cuisine, this is not a new interest for him – while he was still a student, his flatmates loved the dishes he prepared. Later, he was to follow in the footsteps of his mother, who had taken cookery classes in Alsace.

Nimpuno trained with the some of the best: Darina Allen of the renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School; the Michelin star chefs Fernand Michler in Alsace and Dominique Le Stanc in Nice, and with the outstanding German master chef Dieter Müller in Bergisch Gladbach.

He went on to create the „Chef’s Table“, a format that combined a celebrity guest list of up to eight persons with an eight- to ten-course menu. He staged Chef’s Table evenings in Berlin and Singapore – the exclusive settings enabling fruitful encounters, which subsequently inspired a wide range of diverse projects.

Bringing his instincts for devising memorable events to the world of cookery, in 2007 Nimpuno produced the spectacular Crystal Mirror experience, where guests dined in a historical mirror tent on the finest food while enjoying a spectacular show. To enable all this to happen, Nimpuno installed a specially built gourmet kitchen in a shipping container. The show played for three months to capacity audiences.

In Australia, Nimpuno established excellent relationships with several top chefs. As a result, he regularly presents new culinary concepts, the venue this time being the estate owned by Nathalie von Siemens in Caputh near Potsdam. The line-up included the New Zealand star chef Russel Pirrit, Madonna’s macrobiotic cook Mayumi Nishimura, and featured workshops with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.

Nimpuno’s ovens still burn furiously: In Singapore, Hannes Nimpuno frequently cooks to order. And he is in increasing demand as a culinary consultant. In 2016 he developed a new F&B concept for a 180 seater Mediterranean restaurant in Toronto for which he trained the chefs and relaunched the restaurant. Recent consulting work included clients such as TRIAD Berlin, LSG (Lufthansa Service Gesellschaft), MIELE and others.

And the future? Well, Hannes Nimpuno is working on his own restaurant concept. We all eagerly await the result!

Nicola Steller

Biography

Gale force – an artistic tour de force

If you had to sum up Hannes Nimpuno’s life in one word, you’d probably go for – energy. His most distinctive characteristic is the seemingly limitless drive with which he pursues an abundance of top-notchprojects, forever cultivating and perfecting his various gifts. He possesses a rare combination of artistic talent along with a superb track record as a highly accomplished arts manager with a keen intuition for innovative projects.

Nimpuno always aims for the highest level, whether playing the role of organiser, publisher or producer, whether as artistic director or manager – a rare, possibly unique combination of roles. His dual European and Asian heritage adds another special ingredient to the mix – the vast diversity to be found in his inherited cultures permeates everything he does. With the establishment of Shaksfin, his consulting and production company, Nimpuno created a vehicle for bringing his love of music and the performing arts to audiences throughout Asia. Responding to the richness and variety of such different cultural traditions, he has channelled his creativity into enabling hugely successful cultural projects across the Asian continent.

West wind – the early years

Twelve intense years of learning the violin gave Nimpuno a solid musical basis. As early as 1983 – while he was still a student of Physics, Geophysics and Computer Science at the Technical University of Karlsruhe – he performed at Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Festival. His debut was followed by numerous concert appearances with chamber music ensembles in Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria and Switzerland.

From the start, this artistic impetus went hand in hand with his organisational ambitions. In 1985, the year of his graduation, Nimpuno became the founder of the St. Gallen Festival – later known as Bad Gleichenberg Festival – in Styria. By putting special emphasis on independence, artistic freedom and creative exchange, the young artistic director, without funds and sponsors, achieved the almost impossible: to establish a non-commercial cultural meeting place which became ever more successful year by year. He deliberately kept the festival aloof from the media circus – a strategy that attracted 120 artists each year, including many international stars.

Trade wind – the European years

In 1986, Hannes Nimpuno set up Musica Vera. What started as a music publisher for contemporary composers, developed into a three-pillar production company for opera, drama and dance. Nimpuno’s productions included Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne, in cooperation with the puppet theatre Zagreb, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, in cooperation with the Prague-based pantomime company Mimosa, a theatrical version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, featuring the pianist Valery Afanassiev and a modern dance choreography performed by dancers of the Nederlands Dans Theater. These productions also undertook tours to major European cities such as Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt and The Hague.

From 1988 to 1995, Hannes Nimpuno managed an internationally acclaimed chamber orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He organised 120 concerts per year, including tours to Japan, the US, Latin America, Russia and Europe, appearances at the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood and the Vienna Festival. He worked with artists such as Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer and Sandor Vegh. The orchestra’s focus on contemporary music led to Nimpuno commissioning world premieres by Hans Werner Henze, Isang Yun, Günter Bialas, Terry Riley and Qigang Chen.

Since 1990, Nimpuno has also devised and marketed two season-ticket schemes for the orchestra’s home base in Bremen, launched the open-air event Sommer in Lesmona, and produced international cross-over and TV projects with, amongst others, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and John McLaughlin.

Upwind – career highs

From 1995 to 1999, Nimpuno acted as a cultural advisor to Bremen’s Senator for Economic Affairs. He was appointed co-managing director of V & P GmbH, organiser of the famous STOMP show and major jazz festivals, featuring artists like Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau and Paco de Lucia. In addition, he worked for the award-winning Canadian art-house production company Rhombus Media. As Head of the European Office, Nimpuno produced music films featuring stars such as Christoph Eschenbach, Steven Isserlis and Joshua Bell. Later on his experience at Rhombus made him become one of the producers of the first 3D orchestra film with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle.

East wind – from Europe to Asia

For professional and personal reasons, in the late nineties Hannes Nimpuno’s focus increasingly shifted to Asia. He decided on a radical break – in terms of business and as a new start for himself. He had not been in touch with his father’s side of the family for a long time, then, with the founding of Shaksfin in 1999, he was able to reconnect with the Asian part of his identity. In the same year, he moved to Singapore, where this new consulting and production company quickly became one of Asia’s major players in the fields of classical music, dance and touring management.

Nimpuno sees Shaksfin as a bridge between Europe and Asia, managing the Asian tours of important orchestras and dance companies such as Nederlands Dans Theater I and II, Heinz Spoerli & Zurich Ballet, John Neumeier & Hamburg Ballet and many others. Nimpuno’s credits as producer include Robert Wilson’s Hot Water, Eclectic Tales from Mongolia, the Asian version of Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother and Toshio Hozokawa’s Matsukaze featuring Sasha Waltz & Guests. The Shaksfin portfolio is completed by intercultural consulting services specially geared to the needs of artists.

Aromatic breeze – culinary arts

Inspired by his mother, Hannes Nimpuno has been exploring a new passion, and this time it’s something quite different – he is delving into the culinary arts! In typical Nimpuno fashion, he has developed and honed this skill with exceptional commitment. The stages of his culinary career have included an apprenticeship with star chefs, the project Crystal Mirror in Singapore, the relaunch of a restaurant in Toronto as a hip new gourmet place, as well as working with famous cooks such as Russell Pirrit, Mayumi Nishimura and Heston Blumenthal.

Nicola Steller

Shaksfin

Hannes Nimpuno is famed for his achievements as a musician and arts impressario, but there is another side to this multi-talented man. He has built a parallel career in a totally different area – the culinary arts! And, no surprise that he brings the same excellent standards to his cooking that he applies to everything he does.