Giorgio Koukl (born 1953, Prague, Czech Republic) with family roots going back to Belarusian noble family of Grigori Minaiev, is a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, pianist and musical journalist who lives in Lugano, a town located in Ticino, an Italian-speaking canton of southern

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Through studies with

Rudolf Firkušný Rudolf Firkušný (; 11 February 191219 July 1994) was a Moravians, Moravian-born, Moravian-American classical pianist. Life Born in Moravian town Napajedla, Firkušný started his musical studies with the composers Leoš Janáček and Josef ...

, Nikita Magaloff,

Stanislav Neuhaus __NOTOC__ Stanislav Genrikhovich Neuhaus (Russian: Станислав Генрихович Нейгауз) (21 March 192724 January 1980) was a Soviet-Russian classical pianist, and son of the pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus. Neuhaus was ...

and Carlo Vidusso, Koukl was first introduced to the piano music of

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He bec ...

. Koukl, considered now as one of the major world specialists of Parisian music of the twenties and of the "silver age" composers from Saint Petersburg, has recorded the only one existing complete set of solo piano music of Martinů, released between November 2006 and August 2009, a 5-CD set of complete vocal music of Martinů and a 2-CD set of Martinů's complete piano and orchestra for

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

. A series of eight CDs of the complete solo piano music of Alexander Tcherepnin added to his discography the valuations as best CD of the month (four times), best CD of the year (2 times), so as the recordings of Vítězslava Kaprálová, Paul Le Flem (French prize Diapason d'Or), Witold Lutoslawski (first world recordings), Arthur Lourié (first world recording),

Tibor Harsanyi Tibor is a masculine given name found throughout Europe. There are several explanations for the origin of the name: * from Latin name Tiberius, which means "from Tiber", Tiber being a river in Rome. * in old Slavic languages, Tibor means "sacred pl ...

, (a project completed in January 2021, all first world recording), Carl Maria von Weber,

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

, Alfons Szczerbiński and Alexandre Tansman. Recently he is working on the complete piano and two pianos work recording of

Vittorio Rieti Vittorio Rieti (January 28, 1898 – February 19, 1994) was a Jewish- Italian-American composer. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Rieti moved to Milan to study economics. He subsequently studied in Rome under Respighi and Casella, and lived there ...

References

External links

Giorgio Koukl's website
Czech composers Czech male composers Czech pianists Czech harpsichordists Swiss composers Swiss male composers Swiss pianists Swiss harpsichordists Musicians from Prague Czech expatriates in Switzerland 1953 births Living people Czech male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century Czech male musicians {{Switzerland-composer-stub