From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Krystian Zimerman (born December 5, 1956) is a
Polish classical pianist, who is widely regarded as
one of the finest pianists in the world.[1][2]
Biography
Zimerman was born in Zabrze, Poland, and studied at the Katowice Conservatory under Andrzej
Jasiński. His career was launched when he won the 1975 Warsaw
International Frederick Chopin Piano
Competition. He performed with the Berlin
Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan in 1976 and he
made his début in the United States with the New
York Philharmonic in 1979. He has toured widely and made a
number of recordings. Since 1996 he has taught piano at the Academy
of Music in Basel, Switzerland.
Zimerman is best known for his interpretations of Romantic music,
but has performed a wide variety of classical pieces as well. He
has also been a supporter of contemporary music. For example, Witold
Lutosławski wrote his piano concerto for Zimerman, who later
recorded it. Amongst his best-known recordings are the piano
concerti of Edvard Grieg and Robert Schumann with
conductor Herbert von Karajan; the Brahms concerti
with Leonard
Bernstein, the piano concerti of Frédéric
Chopin once conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and a later
recording conducted by himself at the keyboard; the Third, Fourth
and Fifth Piano Concertos of Beethoven under Bernstein
(Zimerman himself lead the accompaniment of the Vienna Philharmonic
from the keyboard in Beethoven's First and Second Concertos) ;
the first and second piano concerti of Rachmaninoff; the piano concerti of
Franz Liszt with Seiji Ozawa, the piano
concerti of Maurice
Ravel with Pierre Boulez, and solo piano works by Frédéric
Chopin, Franz
Liszt, Claude
Debussy and Franz Schubert. Recently, Zimerman
recorded Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1
with Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle (DG 477
5413; Limited Edition DG 477 6021). The pianist has announced his
retirement from public performance starting in 2011.
Criticism
of US policy
Shortly after September 11, 2001, Zimerman's custom-made piano
was confiscated at JFK Airport when he landed in New York City to
give a recital at Carnegie Hall. The US Transportation
Security Administration decided to destroy his piano, claiming
the glue smelled like explosives.[3]
On April 26, 2009, Zimerman vowed to his audience at Los Angeles's Disney
Hall that, in protest of American policy toward Poland, this
would be his final appearance in the United States.[2][4] He had
made a similar threat in 2006, stating he would not return until George W. Bush
was out of office.[3]
Awards
References
External
links
Zabrze, People's Republic of
Poland
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