“A strong individualist with glittering fingers… He has a pronounced musical profile which puts him in a class far above the cut and dried exponents of the international school of modern pianists.”
(Excerpt taken from “The Great Pianists – from Mozart to the present”, by Senior Music Critic Emeritus of the New York Times, Harold C. Schonberg)
Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born in Marseilles.
A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire , he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-Unesco (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition prize.
His major international career includes performances with the world’s greatest orchestras: The Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, The Philharmonia (London), The NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra..….
He has collaborated with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Myung Whun Chung, Sir Simon Rattle, Mstslav Rostropovich, Charles Dutoit, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Eugene Ormandy …
Mr. Katsaris has recorded extensively for Teldec, Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, PIANO 21.
In 1992, the Japanese NHK TV produced with Cyprien Katsaris a thirteen-program series on Frédéric Chopin. On 17 October 1999, was invited in Carnegie Hall for a recital dedicated to Frédéric Chopin 150th death Anniversary. In March 2006 Cyprien Katsaris was the first pianist ever to give masterclasses in Franz Liszt’s house in Weimar. In August 2008, he was invited to give two concerts on the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
In addition he was appointed Artistic Director of the Echternach International Festival (Luxembourg) from 1977 to 2007.
He is a member of ADAP, the Association of Artists for Peace.
Cyprien Katsaris is “Artist of Unesco for Peace” (1997), “Commandeur de l’Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg” (2009), “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” (France 2000), and “Knight of Merit of Cameroon” (1977). He also received the “Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris” (2001), the “Takis and Louki Nemitsas Foundation Prize”, Nicosia (16.9.2011.)e.t.c
