Drechsel was born in Langenfeld (Rheinland). After initial lessons with his mother, the concert pianist Ruth Drechsel-Püster, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Roswitha Gediga-Glombitza and Pavel Gililov. Master classes with, among others, Peter Feuchtwanger, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and the Alban Berg Quartet complemented this education, which he completed in 1998 with the Konzertexamen. In the same year he released his debut CD "Jürg Baur - Das Klavierwerk" and received the Culture Prize of the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland [de] (support prize). For his compositions he received, among others, the 1st prize of the 2007 Siegburg Composition Competition [de].[1]
In addition to solo performances at home and abroad (including in the "Best of NRW" series) as well as radio recordings and CD productions, a further focus of his pianistic work lies in the field of chamber music, in which he performs with Christoph Lahme (harmonium) as a "liaison extraordinaire" as well as with Gernot Süßmuth (violin) and Dagmar Spengler (cello) as the "Piano Trio Cologne-Weimar". In 2003, Drechsel was artist in residence at the Rinck Festival Cologne.[3]
Jürg Baur: mit wechselndem schlüssel. Klavierlieder (zus. m. Matthias Güdelhöfer, bass-baritone), Verlag Dohr, DCD018, 2001.
dialogo. 20th century works for violoncello and piano by Sergei Prokofiev, Buxton Orr and Benjamin Britten (together with Dagmar Spengler, cello), Verlag Dohr DCD017, 2001.
Stockholm@Köln: Neue Kammermusik für Fagott und Klavier, together with Berthold Große (bassoon), works by Oliver Drechsel, Andreas Herkenrath and Johan Ullén, arcantus, arc19018, 2019.
Liaison extraordinaire: Beethoven, together with Christoph Lahme (harmonium), works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Oliver Drechsel and Sigfrid Karg-Elert, VDE Gallo CD1621, 2020.
on concert grand Theodor Stöcker, Berlin 1868 (Haus Eller):
Friedrich Kiel, Das Klavierwerk Vol. 1, Verlag Dohr DCD009, 2002.
Friedrich Kiel, Das Klavierwerk Vol. 2 (together with Wilhelm Kemper), Verlag Dohr DCD011, 2003.
Friedrich Kiel, Das Klavierwerk Vol. 3 (together with Wilhelm Kemper), Verlag Dohr, DCD013, 2004.
Friedrich Kiel, Das Klavierwerk Vol. 4 (together with Wilhelm Kemper), Verlag Dohr, DCD023, 2007.
On fortepiano Christian Erdmann Rancke, Riga 1825 (Haus Eller):
Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, Das Klavierwerk Vol. 1 (publisher Dohr, DCD018, 2002).
Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, The Piano Works Vol. 2 (together with Egino Klepper; publisher Dohr, DCD019, 2003)
Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Works for Piano Solo Vol. 1 (publisher Dohr, DCD024, 2004)
Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Works for Piano Solo Vol. 2 with narrator Claus Biederstaedt (publisher Dohr, DCD029, 2007)
on clavichord Wilhelm Heinrich Bethmann 1799 (copy J. C. Neupert, Bamberg 1999 (Haus Eller)):
Christian Gottlob Neefe: XII Piano Sonatas, Ludwig van Beethoven: Electoral Sonatas, Verlag Dohr DCD026, 2006/07.