Born into a family of musicians, pianist Jan Gottlieb Jiracek von Arnim was described by BBC Music Magazine as one of the leading pianists of his generation. 

At the age of ten, he won first prize at the Steinway Competition in Hamburg and made his formal debut the following year in his home town of Hannover (Germany) with a piano concerto by Mozart. As a graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts, he studied with Hans Leygraf and Alfred Brendel, among others. 

A top prize winner at the Busoni Competition (Italy) and Maria Canals Competition (Spain), he received special honors and awards for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Olivier Messiaen. 

Jan Jiracek von Arnim was one of the winners of the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (USA), which marked the beginning of his international career. Jan Jiracek von Arnim has since performed throughout Europe, including recitals at the Herkulessaal Munich, the Philharmonie Berlin, Salle Cortot Paris, Palau de la musica Barcelona, the Tonhalle Zurich, the Musikverein Vienna, the Musikhalle Hamburg and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, as well as with orchestras such as the Berlin and St. Petersburg Philharmonics Orchestras.

In 2001, he was appointed Professor of Piano Performance at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, making him the youngest tenured professor in the history of this university. 

His students are first prize winners at major international piano competitions, such as the “Géza Anda” (Switzerland), “Unisa” (South Africa), “Top of the World” (Norway),  “Maria Canals” (Spain), among others.

Jan Jiracek von Arnim is currently a guest professor at the Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima (Japan) and at Kunitachi College of Music (Japan). He has been a visiting professor at several prestigious European Universites of Music such as the Hannover “Hochschule für Musik und Theater”, as well as the Yale School of Music from 2022 – 2023. 

He regularly gives master classes in North America, Asia and Europe, most recently at PianoTexas (Fort Worth) in 2025, Valencia International Performing Arts Summer Academy 2025, Theo Lieven Stiftung 2025 in Vienna, Piano Academy Eppan 2025, and the Salzburg Mozarteum Summer Academy 2025.

From 2017 – 2023, as successor to the legendary pianist Wilhelm Kempff, he taught the annual “Beethovenkurs” at the “Casa Orfeo” in Positano, Italy, where selected international piano talents are taught in the German and Austrian tradition of Beethoven interpretation. 

Mr. Jiracek von Arnim is frequently invited as a juror to international piano competitions, e.g. the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, the Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy, the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition for young musicians, and most recently the 2025 Paderewski International Piano Competition in Poland and the 2026 Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in Hungary.

Since 2011, he is the Artistic Director and Chairman of the International Beethoven Piano Competition Vienna, one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world. 

His biography of Franz Liszt, published by Residenz Verlag in Austria, was described by the renowned Austrian newspaper DIE PRESSE as "the very best Liszt biography to date." 

Jan Jiracek von Arnim is a scholarship holder of renowned foundations such as the “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes”. In 2020, he was named a “Paul Harris Fellow” of Rotary Foundation. He is also an honorary citizen of Fredericksburg, Texas (USA).