Eduard Kunz (russian: Эдуард Кунц), (born October 30, 1980 in Omsk,

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He reached the 2nd round in the

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

in 2011.

Biography

Eduard was born in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

from an assimilated minority German ethnic in Russia. He studied with Michail Khokhlov at the Gnessin Special school for gifted children and with Andrei Diev at the

Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

. He made his debut with the Omsk Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 10. He gained a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction as well as the Gold Medal for performance from the Royal Northern College of Music studying with

Norma Fisher Norma Fisher (born 1940) is an English concert pianist and professor of piano living in London. Illness shortened her performing career in the 1990s and she turned instead to teaching. Biography Norma Fisher was born in London of Russian-Polish ...

Manchester Beethoven Orchestra, Eduard Kunz biographical note
accessed 4 January 2013. and the late Mark Ray. Named among 10 tomorrow's great pianists by the BBC Music Magazine, Eduard Kunz has performed and broadcast with many major orchestras in the UK including the

BBC Symphony The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

, BBC Concert, and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras, the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the O ...

, Hallé,

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United K ...

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

, Welsh National Opera Orchestra,

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmon ...

and

London Musici London Musici is a chamber orchestra founded in 1988 by Mark Stephenson. It has given over 1000 performances as the associate orchestra for the Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British da ...

orchestras, with conductors such as

Tugan Sokhiev Tugan Taymurazovich Sokhiev ( os, Сохиты Таймуразы фырт Тугъан, Soxity Tajmurazy fyrt Tuhan; russian: Туга́н Таймура́зович Сохиев; born 21 October 1977, Vladikavkaz, Ossetia) is an Ossetian conducti ...

, Christian Mandeal, Edward Gardner,

Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz (born August 19, 1947), also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orche ...

Lothar Koenigs Lothar Koenigs (born 1965 in Aachen, Germany) is a German conductor. Biography Koenigs grew up in Aachen, in West Germany; as a young boy, he was a chorister at Aachen Cathedral, where he sang all of Anton Bruckner's masses and motets, and dev ...

Garry Walker Garry Walker (born 1974, Edinburgh) is a Scottish conductor. Biography Walker received his secondary school education at St Mary's Music School. His initial musical training was as a cellist, and he subsequently played cello in the Edinbur ...

, Clark Rundell, Mark Stephenson,

Alejandro Posada Alejandro Posada Gómez (born in Bogotá 1960) is a Colombian conductor. Education Posada studied in Colombia and Austria. Career In 1992 Posada won second prize at the Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition. In 2002 he was ap ...

, Josep Caballe Domenech, Alexander Joel,

Andrés Orozco-Estrada Andrés Orozco-Estrada (born 14 December 1977) is a Colombian violinist and conductor, with dual nationality in Colombia and Austria. Early life Born in Medellín, Orozco-Estrada studied music at the Instituto Musical Diego Echavarría and lea ...

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948, Worcester Park, Surrey, U.K.) is a British conductor. Wordsworth is Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Ballet and has had a long relationship with company. He was first appointed as Assistant Cond ...

and David Angus, amongst others. Other important debuts included Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Berlin Philharmonie, The Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall,

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset. His ...

, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León,

Orkest van het Oosten The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra () is a Dutch symphony orchestra. The home of the orchestra is the Muziekcentrum in Enschede. The orchestra was previously known in Dutch as Orkest van het Oosten (literal translation "Orchestra of the East"), b ...

Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse The Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse is a French orchestra based in Toulouse. It acts as both a symphony orchestra whose main residence is Toulouse's Halle aux Grains, and the permanent orchestra of the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. ...

and Braunschweig Symphony orchestras as well as recitals at the

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

in London, Bridgewater Hall in

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in Paris,

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...

in Amsterdam and Winterthur Hall in Barcelona, amongst many others. Recordings for classical radio stations include BBC Radio 3,

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and

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amongst many others. Eduard is a winner of thirteen first prizes of international piano competitions including First Prize of George Enescu Competition in Bucharest and Gold Medals of the New OrleansEduard Kunz triumphs in New Orleans International Piano Competition, 27 July 2010.
accessed 4 January 2013. and Paderewski International Piano Competitions. Other awards included Silver medal from The Worshipful Company of Musicians in London, awards from Hattori and Musical Foundation, Dame Myra Hess and Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe as well as Spivakov Foundation and “Richter” award from Rostropovich Foundation in Moscow. In the 2011, he reached the 2nd round in the

. Eduard's stage partners include Yulian Rachlin, Patricia Kopachinskaya, Sol Gabetta, Vilde Frang, Boris Andrianov, Aleksandr Ghindin and Yuriy Medyanik. Eduard's performances were recorded by all major European stations including BBC Radio 3,

and Deutsche Radio Kultur and Russian Orpheus. Eduard radio recordings include Piano Concerto No. 10 (Mozart) with

BBC Scottish Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional ra ...

, Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven) and Piano Concerto No. 1(Tchaikovsky) with Ulster Orchestra Northern Ireland,

Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff) The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between June 1900 and April 1901. From the summer to the autumn of 1900, he worked on the second and third movements of the c ...

with BBC Concert Orchestra, Schumann and Dmitri Shostakovich concertos with WNO and the

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini The ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'', Op. 43, (russian: Рапсодия на тему Паганини, ''Rapsodiya na temu Paganini'') is a concertante work written by Sergei Rachmaninoff for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano ...

by Sergei Rachmaninoff with BBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as a recording with Alexandru Tomescu of complete repertoire for violin and piano by

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biogr ...

. Eduard is the co-founder of Kunz Piano Academy in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, where he invites young artists from all around the world twice a year for a week of public masterclasses. In 2020, the Academy will have its 4th edition. Eduard is a Moscow Philharmonic Society Artist,

Verbier Festival The Verbier Festival is an annual international music festival that takes place for two weeks in late July and early August in the mountain resort of Verbier, Switzerland. Founded by Swedish expatriate in 1994, it has attracted international so ...

laureate, a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist (2006–2008) and a

Yamaha Artist A Yamaha Artist is a designation bestowed by Yamaha, by invitation, to musical artists, considered to be critically acclaimed in their instruments or genres. Acceptance as a Yamaha Artist is tantamount to a reciprocal endorsement by Yamaha. Like ot ...

. He is featured in the 2010 film A ''Surprise in Texas'' about the 2009 Van Cliburn Foundation competition.Review: 'A Surprise in Texas', Benjamin Olivo : May 14, 2010.
accessed 4 January 2013.

Awards and Competitions

References

External links

Official web-site

Youtube channel

Rachmaninov - Moments musicaux, Op. 16: No. 2, 3, 4

Scarlatti - Piano Sonata in D minor, K.213

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunz, Eduard Russian classical pianists Male classical pianists Russian people of German descent 1980 births Gnessin State Musical College alumni Living people Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century Russian male musicians