Maria João Alexandre Barbosa Pires (; born 23 July 1944) is a Portuguese classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Early life and education

Pires was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, a posthumous daughter of João Baptista Pires and his wife Alzira dos Santos Alexandre Barbosa. She has three siblings: Hugo Alexandre Barbosa Pires, Maria Regina Alexandre Barbosa Pires and Maria Helena Alexandre Barbosa Pires. Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing Mozart piano concertos publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Campos Coelho at the Lisbon Conservatory, taking courses in composition, theory, and

history of music Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of la ...

. She continued her studies in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, first in the Musikakademie of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

with Rosl Schmid and then in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

with Karl Engel.

Career

International fame came in 1970, when she won the

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Bicentennial Competition in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Subsequently, she performed with major orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Japan, interpreting works by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, Brahms, Chopin and other classical and romantic composers. Her professionalism achieved worldwide recognition when a 1998 film was drawn to the attention of the press and went viral in 2013. At the start of a lunchtime open rehearsal in Amsterdam, she realised that she had prepared for a different Mozart concerto from the one the orchestra had started playing; quickly recovering, she played the correct concerto from memory. Pires performed at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in 2010. In an interview beforehand, she said that after 60 years of recitals and concerts she had cut back her performances but was non-committal about retirement. From 2012 to 2016, she was a Master in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium, where she gave piano lessons and

master class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

es to young talented pianists from all over the world. To foster young musicians, she launched the Partitura Project. In 2017, she announced her retirement from the stage and tours for 2018, but she continued giving concerts. On February 20, 2019, she was awarded with a Doctorate Honorary Degree by Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. In 2023, she was given the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Bienen School of Music at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Recordings

Pires performs as a solo artist and in

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. Her many successful recordings include performances of the ''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. History The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras was aware that "''the sun provides the moon with its ...

'' and other

sonatas In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the Music history, history of music, designating a variety of ...

by Beethoven, ''Le Voyage Magnifique'' (the complete impromptus of Schubert), nocturnes and other works by Chopin, and Mozart trios with

Augustin Dumay Augustin Dumay (born 17 January 1949) is a French violinist and conductor from Paris. Biography Dumay was invited as a soloist to appear with Yo-Yo Ma in Paris by Herbert von Karajan. Later on, he performed Béla Bartók's ''Second Concerto'' with ...

(

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

) and Jian Wang (

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

). She won the Pessoa Prize in 1989, and founded the Belgais Centre for Study of the Arts in 1999. '' Gramophone'' selected her recordings of the Chopin nocturnes as the best version available: "I have no hesitation in declaring Maria João Pires—a pianist without a trace of narcissism—among the most eloquent master-musicians of our time." (Bryce Morrison). Her recording of Beethoven's 3rd and 4th piano concertos with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding won the 2015 Gramophone Classical Music Awards - Concerto Category Another of her acclaimed recordings is ''Mozart: The Piano Sonatas''. According to the ''Penguin Guide'', "Maria João Pires is a stylist and a fine Mozartian. She is always refined yet never wanting in classical feeling, and she has a vital imagination. She strikes an ideal balance between poise and expressive sensibility, conveying a sense of spontaneity in everything she does."

Partial discography

* Bach’s Partita no. 1, French Suite no. 2 and English Suite no. 3 (1996, Deutsche Grammophonn), recipient of '' Grand Prix du Disque'' * Chopin, Schubert, Mozart etc.: Complete Concerto Recordings on

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

2014 * Chopin, Schubert, Mozart etc.: Complete Solo Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon 2014 * Mozart: Lieder and Arias ccompanist to Barbara Hendricks MI* Mozart: Piano Sonatas Complete (Denon) * Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4 (2014, Onyx Classics) * Mozart; Fantasies KV 397-KV475, Rondos KV485-KV511 (Denon BB-7009) 1974 * Mozart: Piano Concertos 14, 17, 21, & 26 (2013, Deutsche Grammophon) * Schubert (2013, Deutsche Grammophon) * Chopin (2008, Deutsche Grammophon) * Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (2001,

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...

) * Schumann: Piano Concerto, Piano Quintet (2000, Deutsche Grammophon) * Chopin: Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (1999, Erato) * Chopin: Nocturnes (1996, Deutsche Grammophon), Record Academy Prize, Tokyo and '' Grand Prix du Disque'' * Franck, Debussy: Violin Sonatas; Ravel: Berceuse; Habanera; Tzigane (1996, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 281, K. 282, K. 533/K. 494 (1993, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 331 & 457; Fantasias K. 397 & 475 (1990, Deutsche Grammophon) * Schubert: Sonata; 6 Moments Musicaux; 2 Scherzi (1989, Deutsche Grammophon) * Mozart: The Great Concertos for Piano (1978, Erato)

Move to Brazil

In 2006 she moved to Lauro de Freitas—a town near Salvador, Brazil—and continued performing. At the time of her move, she commented that she had suffered much adverse publicity in Portugal due to her Belgais Centre project to help tackle the significant problem of underprivileged children, a project that the Portuguese Government helped to fund but publicly shied away from. The centre continued to operate at her farm in Portugal and she subsequently started similar projects in Brazil. In 2017, she moved back to Belgais, in Portugal.

Social engagement

"It is in response to this issue that Maria João Pires launched the Partitura project. It is all about creating favourable circumstances for transmission by encouraging reciprocal listening between generations: inciting well-known musicians to foster young musicians and to invite them (as the name suggests) to share the concert platform".

Honours and awards

Honours

PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Knight BAR

Dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (9 August 1983) * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Commander BAR

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

(9 June 1989) * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Gran ...

of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (9 June 1998) * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR

Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (19 May 2019) *Honorary doctorate ( ''Doctor Honoris Causa''), Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona (20 February 2019) *Five ''Grand Prix du Disque'' Awards for various recordings of Bach, Brahms, Mozart and Chopin * Praemium Imperiale for music (2024)

References

Notes Sources
Belgais CentreDeutsche Grammophon BiographyInterview with Maria João Pires, May 24, 2012

External links

March 25, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pires, Maria Joao 1944 births Living people Portuguese classical pianists Portuguese women pianists Child classical musicians Deutsche Grammophon artists Portuguese expatriates in Brazil Musicians from Lisbon Pessoa Prize winners Women classical pianists 21st-century classical pianists Erato Records artists 21st-century women pianists