Hagen Rether

Hagen Rether (born 8 October 1969 in Bucharest) is a Romanian-born German political cabaret artist and musician. The most remarkable features in his performance are usually the presence and use of a grand piano. He was a frequent contributor to the German Kabarett TV show Scheibenwischer. Among the topics Rether relates to are not only federal, state and international politics, but also religion, media, consumerism and globalization. He spent his early childhood in Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania, as the son of German, Transylvanian Saxon parents of Siebenbürgen. In 1973, his family relocated to West Germany, settling in Freiburg im Breisgau.

Rether began studying the piano at eight years of age and attended the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Prior to touring with his solo show, he was the pianist in Ludger Stratmann's show as well as performing with other artists. Since 2003 he has presented his show "Liebe" (Love), which he constantly updates and varies according to the contemporary requirements of every performance. His show is predominantly political; he sometimes begins by eating a cup of yoghurt, and throughout much of the show he alternates or accompanies his monologue with the piano.

Important targets for his satires and biting ironies include the Catholic Church, George W. Bush and the German novelist and Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass, whom he criticized for not admitting that he was a member of the Waffen-SS as a teenager. Rether has received numerous awards, including the Prix Pantheon, the Bavarian Cabaret Prize and the Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis in 2008. In 2011, the asteroid 233653 Rether, discovered by German amateur astronomer Rolf Apitzsch in 2008, was named in his honor.