Martha Argerich

Born in Buenos Aires, Martha Argerich studied piano since the age of five with Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Considered a child prodigy, she performed very early on stage. In 1955, she traveled to Europe and studied in London, Vienna and Switzerland with Seidlhofer, Gulda, Magaloff, Madame Lipatti and Stefan Askenase. In 1957, Martha Argerich won first prizes in the Bolzano and Geneva competitions, then in 1965 the Chopin competition in Warsaw. From then on, his career was one of triumphs. If her temperament leads her to works of virtuosity from the 19th and 20th centuries, she refuses to consider herself as a specialist. Her repertoire is very extensive and includes Bach as well as Bartok, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovitch, Tchaikovski, Messiaen.
A permanent guest of the most prestigious orchestras and festivals in Europe, Japan, America and Israel (with Zubin Mehta and Lahav Shani), she also favors chamber music. She plays and records regularly with pianists Nelson Freire, cellist Mischa Maisky, violinist Gidon Kremer as well as with Daniel Barenboim: "This chord within an ensemble is very calming for me". Her discography is immense: Martha Argerich records with EMI / Erato, Sony, Philips, Teldec and DGG. His latest recordings include Beethoven concertos n ° 1 / n ° 3 (Grammy Award) as well as Mozart concertos n ° 20 and 25 with Claudio Abbado, Berlin recital with Daniel Barenboim (Mozart, Schubert, Stravinsky) , a record of lives in Buenos Aires with Daniel Barenboim, dedicated to Schumann, Debussy, Bartok, and a duet record with Itzhak Perlman dedicated to Schumann, Bach, Brahms. Many of his concerts have been broadcast by televisions around the world.
Martha Argerich collects awards for her recordings: "Grammy Award" for the Concertos by Bartok and Prokofiev, "Gramophon - Artist of the Year", "Best Piano Concerto Recording of the Year" for the Chopins, "Choc" from the World of Music for his Amsterdam recital, “Künstler des Jahres Deutscher Schallplatten Kritik”, “Grammy Award” for Cinderella by Prokofiev with Mikael Pletnev. With the aim of helping young people, in 1998 she became Artistic Director of the "Beppu Argerich Festival" in Japan.
Martha Argerich has received numerous awards:
- "Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters" in 1996 and "Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters" in 2004 by the French Government
- "Academician of Santa Cecilia" in Rome in 1997
- "Musician of the Year" by "Musical America" ​​in 2001
- "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette" (for its contribution to the development of musical culture and its support for young artists) by the Japanese Government and the prestigious “Praemium Imperiale” Prize by the Japanese Emperor in 2005.
- Kennedy Center Honors in December 2016 by Barack Obama
- "Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" in 2018