- Lang Lang
Lang Lang (born June 14, 1982) is a virtuoso pianist from Shenyang, China. - Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer of the Romantic period. He was a renowned performer throughout Europe during the 19th century, noted especially for his showmanship and great skill with the piano. Today, he is considered to be one of the greatest pianists in history, despite the fact that no recordings of his playing exist. Liszt is frequently credited with re-defining piano playing itself, and his influence is still visible today, … - Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (birth name "Glenn Herbert Gold") (September 25, 1932 - October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He gave up concert performances in 1964, dedicating himself to the recording studio for the rest of his career, and performances for television and radio. - Leonard Pennario
Leonard Pennario is an American classical pianist. He was born July 9, 1924 in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, remaining there his entire career. He first came into notice when he performed the Piano Concerto by Edvard Grieg at age 13. Pennario recorded over 60 LP's; most of them of composers dating from Chopin and later. He is perhaps best known for championing certain modern composers such as George Gershwin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Miklós Rózsa, … - Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein (August 25 1918 – October 14 1990) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. He was the first conductor born in the United States of America to receive world-wide acclaim, and is known for both his conducting of the New York Philharmonic, including the acclaimed "Young People's Concerts" series, and his multiple compositions, including "West Side Story", … - Van Cliburn
Van Cliburn was transformed from a highly regarded yet relatively unknown artist to musical superstar faster than any other classical musician in history. Through grand playing in the style of great pianists of the past and the luck of timing, he became a worldwide celebrity in the late 1950s. - Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host, who is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative pop artists. O’Riley was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. Beginning with a background in jazz, O'Riley switched to classical piano and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. He has received awards at the Leeds, Van Cliburn, Busoni and Montreal competitions, … - Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett (born May 8 1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist and composer. He is ethnically Hungarian and Irish. His career started with Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in both classical music and jazz, as a group leader and a solo performer. His improvisation technique combines not only jazz, but also other forms of music, especially classical, gospel, blues, … - Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice (born November 14 1954) is the 66th United States Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush to hold the office. Rice is the first African American woman, second African American (after Colin Powell, who served before her from 2001 - 2005), and second woman (after Madeleine Albright who served from 1997 to 2001, before Colin Powell) to serve as Secretary of State. - Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (1 October 1903 - 5 November 1989) was a Russian-American classical pianist. In his prime, he was considered one of the most distinguished pianists of any age. His technique, use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. Though sometimes criticized for being overly mannered and showy, he has a huge and passionate following and is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. - Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, (baptized December 17, 1770 - March 26, 1827) was a German composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music, and was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. His music and his reputation inspired — and in many cases intimidated — ensuing generations of composers, musicians, and audiences. - Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California), better known as Dave Brubeck, is a U.S. jazz pianist. Often regarded as a genius in his field, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. Much of his music employs unusual time signatures. - Susan Starr
Susan Starr is an American pianist and piano teacher who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in the same city, she has held teaching positions among the faculty at Rutgers University and Florida International University. A former student of Rudolf Serkin, she has won (among other awards) a silver medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptized Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. His output of over 600 compositions includes works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of European composers and many of his works are part of the standard concert repertoire. - Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 - July 29, 1856) was a German composer and pianist. He was one of the most famous Romantic composers of the nineteenth century, as well as a famous music critic. An intellectual as well as an aesthete, his music reflects the deeply personal nature of Romanticism. Introspective and often whimsical, his early music was an attempt to break with the tradition of classical forms and structure which he thought too restrictive. - Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 - April 3, 1897) was a German composer of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, he eventually settled in Vienna, Austria. - Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff ("Sergej Vasilevič Rakhmaninov", 1 April, 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) - 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, one of the last great champions of the Romantic style of European classical music. ("Sergei Rachmaninoff" was the spelling the composer himself used while living in the West throughout the latter half of his life. However, transliterations of his name include "Sergey" or "Serge", … - Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev born in Sontsovka, Ukraine of the Russian Empire on April 27 (April 15<small><sup>1<;/sup></small> O.S.), 1891-March 5, 1953 was a Russian and Soviet composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. (Alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Prokofief, Prokofieff, … - Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur (born Artur) Rubinstein KBE (January 28 1887 - December 20 1982) was a Polish-American pianist who is widely considered as one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 20th Century. He received international acclaim for his performances of Chopin and Brahms and his championing of Spanish music. - Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich (born June 5, 1941) is a concert pianist of Argentine origin. 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 calibre. Despite this, she is widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of modern day. - David Helfgott
David Helfgott (born May 19, 1947) is a controversial Australian pianist. He is as well-known for having schizoaffective disorder as for his piano playing. Helfgott's life inspired the Oscar-winning film "Shine", directed by Scott Hicks and starring Geoffrey Rush and Noah Taylor as Helfgott at different periods of his life. - Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher (born July 23, 1928) is an American pianist and conductor. He was born in San Francisco, California, where he started studying the piano at age 4. He made his public debut at age 8 and played with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux at 16. He studied with Artur Schnabel. He made a memorable series of recordings with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra before losing the use of his right hand due to focal dystonia. - Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel (born January 5, 1931) is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia. He is renowned as one of the most distinguished classical pianists of the second half of the 20th century. - Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin (Polish: Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, sometimes "Szopen"; French: Frédéric François Chopin; English surname pronunciation: or ; March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola - October 17, 1849, Paris) was a Polish piano composer of the Romantic period. He is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, and prolific composers for piano of all time. Chopin was born in the village of Żelazowa Wola, … - Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 - December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist of the impressionistic period, known especially for the subtlety, richness and poignancy of his music. His piano, chamber music and orchestral works have become staples of the concert repertoire. Ravel's piano compositions, such as "Jeux d'eau", "Miroirs" and "Gaspard de la Nuit", demand considerable virtuosity from the performer, and his orchestral music, … - Murray Perahia
Murray Perahia KBE (b. April 19, 1947) is a distinguished American concert pianist. He is also a respected conductor. His recordings are characterized by a consistent quality of sound, technique and interpretation and a careful attention to dynamic and stylistic details. - Erik Satie
Satie and furniture music: not all of Satie's music is "furniture music". In the strict sense the term applies only to five of his compositions, which he wrote in 1917, 1920, and 1923. For the first public performance of "furniture music" see Entr'acte. Satie as precursor: the only "precursor" discussion Satie was involved in during his lifetime was whether or not he was a precursor of Claude Debussy, but many would follow. - Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist. He studied with Jiri Hlinka at the Grieg Academy of Music in Bergen. He is an ardent champion of the works of Edvard Grieg. Andsnes is one of the most respected classical pianists in the world today and has been nominated for the prestigious Grammy Awards four times (as of December 2004). He has won numerous awards, including the Hindemith-Prize (1987), Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (1997), Royal Philharmonic Society Award, … - Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (b. November 15, 1942) is a pianist and conductor. He lives in Berlin and holds citizenship in Argentina, Israel, and Spain. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina; his parents were Russian Jews. Barenboim first came to fame as a pianist but now is as well-known as a conductor, and for his work with an orchestra of young Arab and Jewish musicians, based in Israel, called the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, … - Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942) is an Italian classical pianist. He was born in Milan, his father being the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18. He received a diploma from the Milan Conservatory and won the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960, after which he studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. - Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the romantic period. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt" (which includes Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King), and for his collection of piano miniatures "Lyric Pieces". - Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin (March 28, 1903 - May 8, 1991) was a Bohemian-born pianist. He was born in Cheb (Eger), Bohemia (now Czech Republic) to a Russian-Jewish family. Hailed as a child prodigy, Serkin was sent to Vienna at the age of nine, where he studied piano with Richard Robert and, later, composition with Joseph Marx making his public debut with the Vienna Philharmonic at 12. - Vladimir Ashkenazy
i'm 24y/o kuwaiti guy, like to make friend from all over the world, really interest in classical music, take care of my self and like to keep my body fit. - Hélène Grimaud
Hélène Grimaud is a French pianist. She was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. She is of Corsican, German, North African and Jewish heritage. Her family changed its name from Grimaldi before she was born. She has described herself as an "extremely agitated" child, having a problem over-focusing; she was a give-her-all-or-none type of child. She discovered the piano at seven. She entered the Paris Conservatory in 1982 where she studied with Jacques Rouvier. - Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist, widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. He was well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique and vast repertoire. - Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on September 25, 1906. Years after his death, he remains one of the most important figures in 20th-century classical music and one of the most controversial. Under pressure from Soviet authorities, he compromised his art. At least that was how it seemed. (09/25/2006) - Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. - Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (Russian: Эми́ль Григо́рьевич Ги́лельс, "Emi'li Grego'rievič Gi'lelis"; October 19 1916 – October 14 1985) was a Soviet pianist. - Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevich Kissin is a virtuoso classical pianist. Kissin was born in Moscow to a Jewish family. At age 11 months, he reportedly was able to hum along to a Bach tune his sister Alla was playing on the piano. At age 6 he commenced his own piano studies at the esteemed Gnessin School of Music for Gifted Children where he became a student of Anna Pavlovna Kantor. - Angela Hewitt
Angela Hewitt OBE(born July 26, 1958) is a Canadian classical pianist. She also holds British nationality through her father, Godfrey, who was the cathedral organist in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Angela Hewitt began her piano studies at age 3, performed in public at 4, and won her first music scholarship at 5. Aside from the piano, she also studied violin, recorder, and ballet (at Mme. Toumine's school in Ottawa).
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