Rafał Blechacz
Rafał Blechacz (; born 30 June 1985) is a Polish classical pianist who rose to fame after decisively winning the XV International Chopin Piano Competition in 2005. Biography Blechacz began piano lessons at the age of five, and enrolled in the National Arthur Rubinstein Music School in Bydgoszcz three years later. In May 2007, he graduated from the Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy in Bydgoszcz with professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń. He won second prize at the ''Arthur Rubinstein in Memoriam'' Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz in 2002, second prize at the 4th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2003 (no first prize was awarded), and first prize at the International Piano Competition in Morocco in 2004. On October 21, 2005, he became the sole recipient of all five first prizes at the 15th International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, taking First Prize and the polonaise, mazurka, concerto prizes, as well as the Special Prize for Audience Approval. No other ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nakło Nad Notecią
Nakło nad Notecią (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Nakel an der Netze) is a town in northern Poland on the river Noteć with 23,687 inhabitants (2007). It is the seat of Nakło County, and also of Gmina Nakło nad Notecią, situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located in the ethnocultural region of Krajna. History Nakło began to develop as a Pomeranian settlement by the middle of the 10th century. It was initially called ''Nakieł'', and its name comes from the Old Polish word ''nakieł''. The name morphed into ''Nakło'' in the 16th century. The town was first mentioned in 11th-century documents. Between 1109 and 1113 it fell to Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland. It received Magdeburg town rights in 1299. It was a royal town of the Polish Crown and a county seat located in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. Nakło was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia during the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and known by the German name '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John O'Conor
John O'Conor (born 18 January 1947) is an Irish pianist and pedagogue, and former director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Early career Born in Dublin, O'Conor attended Belvedere College in that city. During his early Dublin studies, his main piano teacher was J. J. O'Reilly. Later he was awarded an Austrian Government scholarship that enabled him to study in Vienna with the renowned pedagogue Dieter Weber. He also made a special study of Beethoven with the legendary German pianist Wilhelm Kempff. In 1973 O'Conor was unanimously awarded First Prize at the International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna which launched his international career, and in 1975 he won First Prize at the Bösendorfer Competition. Performances O'Conor has given recitals in many of the world's most famous halls including New York's Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, the Wigmore Hall and South Bank Centre in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Dvořák Hall in Prague and the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gilmore Artist Award
The Gilmore Artist Award is awarded every four years to a concert pianist. The award was established in 1989 by The Gilmore of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Selection criteria In contrast with other music awards, nominees are not aware that they are under consideration, but are assessed discreetly over a period of time through live performances and recordings. The prize money is $300,000, of which $50,000 to be spent as the winner desires and $250,000 to be used for career development. Previous winners *1991 – David Owen Norris (England) *1994 – Ralf Gothóni (Finland) *1998 – Leif Ove Andsnes (Norway) *2002 – Piotr Anderszewski (Poland) *2006 – Ingrid Fliter (Argentina) *2010 – Kirill Gerstein (Russia) *2014 – Rafał Blechacz (Poland) *2018 – Igor Levit Igor Levit (russian: link=no, Игорь Левит; born 10 March 1987) is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. He is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover. He lives ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vienna Symphony
The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the Theater an der Wien. History In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the ''Wiener Concertverein'' (Vienna Concert Society). In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name. Despite a lull in concert attendance after the introduction of radio during the 1920s, the orchestra survived until the invasion of Austria in 1938 and became incorporated into the German Culture Orchestras. As such, they were used for purposes of propaganda until, depleted by assignments to work in munitions factories, the orchestra closed down on September 1, 1944. Their first post-war concert occurred on September 16, 1945, performing Gustav Mahler's Sym ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951. Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at New National Theatre Tokyo, the city's leading opera house. It offers subscription concert series at its home, the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall and at Suntory Hall, the Concert Hall of Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, and Tokyo Opera City. The orchestra recorded the musical score for the 1984 movie ''The Return of Godzilla''. Permanent Conductors and Music Directors * Jonathan Nott (September, 2014– ) * Hubert Soudant (2004– August, 2014) * Kazuyoshi Akiyama is a Japanese conductor. Biography Born into a musical family, he studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but was fascinated by the conducting activities of a fellow student, Seiji Ozawa. He decided to study conducting with Hideo S ... (1964–2004) * Masashi Ueda ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Arturo Toscanini; of the Philharmonia's younger conductors, the most important to its development was Herbert von Karajan who, though never formally chief conductor, was closely associated with the orchestra in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Philharmonia became widely regarded as the finest of London's five symphony orchestras in its first two decades. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s the orchestra's chief conductor was Otto Klemperer, with whom the orchestra gave many concerts and made numerous recordings of the core orches |