My history with the piano began when I was about three and a half years old. I started by playing with one finger on a piano bought for my sister. Much later I entered the Paris Conservatoire, and even now, I still sit at the piano every day, and devote myself to hours of concentrated practice. Piano practice takes an extremely long time, but has absolutely no meaning if you don't practice with the correct technique. Likewise, I think that it is also important to choose a good piano. And from that standpoint, I believe that this instrument is an appropriate choice. This time I chose to play Gottschalk's "Banjo", one of the most technically demanding pieces in my repertoire, along with other pieces by Chopin and Schumann that require a rich, profound expressive ability. The fact that I was willing to attempt such pieces on this piano should give you an understanding of just how capable an instrument it is. Of course the action and the touch of the keyboard are both good, but I was very surprised by the depth of its pedaling. It responds well to subtle changes when depressing and releasing the pedals. Of course, the sound quality of the instrument almost go without saying.
Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born in Marseilles in 1951. He first began to play the piano in Cameroon...
Read MoreCyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born in Marseilles in 1951. He first began to play the piano in Cameroon where he spent his childhood, at the age of four, with Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse.
A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied piano with Aline van Barentzen, Monique de la Bruchollerie, and chamber music with Rene Leroy and Jean Hubeau, he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-Unesco (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and he was the only western-European prize-winner at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition.
His major international career includes performances with the world's greatest orchestras: The Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, The Philharmonia (London), The NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra... He has collaborated with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Myung Whun Chung, Sir Simon Rattle, Mstslav Rostropovich, Charles Dutoit, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christoph von Dohnanyi… and Karl Munchinger, who on the festive occasion of his farewell concert in 1986, with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, personally invited Mr. Katsaris to perform the Haydn D major Concerto.
Mr. Katsaris has recorded extensively for Teldec (Grand Prix du Disque Frederic Chopin, Warsaw 1985; Grand Prix du Disque Franz Liszt, Budapest 1984 and 1989; British Music Retailer's Association's Award 1986; Record of the Year 1984, Germany, for the 9th Symphony of Beethoven/Liszt), Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, PIANO 21.
In addition to the standard repertory, such as the complete Concertos by Mozart, recorded live and performed in Salzburg and Vienna with Yoon K. Lee and the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie, he has revived long lost works such as the Liszt/Tchaikovsky's Concerto in the Hungarian style which he has recorded with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1992, the Japanese NHK TV produced with Cyprien Katsaris a thirteen-program series on Frederic Chopin which included masterclasses and his own performance. On 17 October 1999, the New York concertgoers offered Mr. Katsaris a standing-ovation in Carnegie Hall for his recital dedicated to Frederic Chopin, performed on the day of his 150th death Anniversary.
He has been a member of the jury of the following International Competitions: Chopin (Warsaw 1990), Liszt (Utrecht 1996), Vendome Prize (Paris 2000), Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Ville de Paris (2001) and Beethoven (Bonn 2005).
Appointed in 1977 Artistic Director of the International Festival of Echternach in Luxembourg, Cyprien Katsaris is "Knight of Merit of Cameroon" (1977), "Artist of Unesco for Peace" (1997), "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters" (France 2000). He also received the "Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris" (2001).
In March 2006 Cyprien Katsaris was the first pianist ever to give masterclasses in Franz Liszt's house in Weimar since Liszt, who taught there for the very last time in 1886, the year of his death.
