Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941) is a concert pianist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her aversion to the press and publicity has resulted in her remaining out of the limelight for most of her career. She has given relatively few interviews. As a result, she may not be as well known as other pianists of similar caliber. Despite this, she is widely recognized as one of the greatest piano virtuosos of our time.
The French pianist, Alexandre Tharaud, graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and started his international career in earnest when he won the 2nd Prize at the ARD Competition in Munich. As a soloist, Alexandre Tharaud has appeared with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de France...
Frederic Rzewski (born Westfield, Massachusetts, 1938) studied music first with Charles Mackey of Springfield, and subsequently with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt at Harvard and Princeton Universities. He went to Italy in 1960, where he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and met Severino Gazzelloni, with whom he performed in a number of concerts, thus beginning a career as a performer of new piano music.
Elisabeth Leonskaja (b. November 23, 1945) is a Georgian pianist, born to a Russian family living in Tbilisi, then the capital of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. She gave her first concert at the age of eleven. In 1964 she began studies in Moscow Conservatory under Jacob Milstein. During her conservatory years she won prizes in competitions in Bucharest, Brussels and Paris.
Christoph Eschenbach (born February 20, 1940 in Breslau, Germany (today Wrocław, Poland) is a noted pianist and conductor. Orphaned by World War II, he won numerous first-place piano competition prizes. In 1964 he made his first recording (of Mozart) for Deutsche Grammophon and signed a contract with the label. In 1981, Eschenbach became principal guest conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and was chief conductor from 1982-86.
Murray Perahia (born April 19, 1947) is a distinguished American concert pianist of Sephardic origin. He is also a respected conductor. His recordings are characterized by a consistent quality of sound, technique/interpretation and a careful attention to dynamic and stylistic details.
Richard Egarr is a British keyboard performer and conductor. He received his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. His study with Gustav Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance. Egarr has worked with all types of keyboards and performed repertoire ranging from fifteenth-century organ intabulations to Dussek and Chopin on early pianos, to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano.
Peter Donohoe CBE born in Manchester, 18 June 1953 is the premier English pianist of his generation. He started his musical career as a percussionist with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and he still occasionally performs with Percussion. He was awarded joint-second prize in the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition with Vladimir Ovchinnikov (no first prize was awarded that year).
Simone Dinnerstein is an American classical pianist, born in New York City, USA. Her father, Simon Dinnerstein, is a painter. She studied in the precollege program at the Manhattan School of Music with Solomon Mikowsky. She later attended The Juilliard School of Music and was a student of Peter Serkin. She also studied in London with Maria Curcio. In addition to her solo recital work, she has been a featured guest artist at the Bard Music Festival, as well as appearing as a chamber musician in performances of contemporary music, including works of Yehudi Wyner and Ned Rorem.
Carlos Cipa is a 22 year old composer/musician residing in Munich (Germany). Carlos discovered his passion for music very early in his life. At the age of 6 he began taking classical piano lessons with various renowned teachers. Ten years later after he started playing drums he became more and more interested in composition and improvisation. In the following years he made lots of experiences in many music styles like jazz, hardcore/punk, indie rock and orchestral music.