“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.

A graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where Cyprien Katsaris studied piano with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie (piano First Prize, 1969), as well as chamber music with René Leroy and Jean Hubeau (First Prize, 1970), he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and he was the only western-European prize-winner at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. He was also awarded the Albert Roussel Foundation Prize (Paris 1970) and the Alex de Vries Foundation Prize (Antwerp 1972).

He gave his first public concert in Paris, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on 8 May 1966, as a “Knight” of the youth competition “The Kingdom of Music”; he performed the Hungarian Fantasy by Franz Liszt, with the Orchestre Symphonique d’Ile-de-France conducted by René-Pierre Chouteau.

His major international career includes performances with the world’s greatest orchestras, most notably The Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington D.C., The NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Bucharest George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Mstslav Rostropovich, Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnányi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Leif Segerstam, Dmitri Kitajenko… and Karl Münchinger, who on the festive occasion of his farewell concert in 1986, with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, personally invited Mr. Katsaris to perform the Haydn D major Concerto.
In addition to his activities as a soloist he founded the “Katsaris Piano Quintet”. This has received a very enthusiastic response from both the press and audiences in the Americas, Europe and Japan.

Mr. Katsaris has recorded extensively for Teldec (Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin, Warsaw 1985; Grand Prix du Disque Franz Liszt, Budapest 1984 and 1989; British Music Retailer’s Association’s Award 1986; Record of the Year 1984, Germany, for the 9th Symphony of Beethoven/Liszt), Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, PIANO 21.

Two famous film directors, Claude Chabrol and Oscar-winner François Reichenbach, have made films of Mr. Katsaris in live concert performances.

“I was lucky enough to hear Cyprien Katsaris in his dazzling interpretation of Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto and also in his magnificent performance of the last piece of my Vingt Regards. His steel technique, his ardour spirit and his authority, and lastly his brilliance, make Cyprien Katsaris a marvellous pianist, and I have the fullest confidence in his future.” (Olivier Messiaen)

“I am convinced that Cyprien Katsaris represents the greatest artistic value of his generation.” (György Cziffra)

“He is a major pianist and, even better, a major artist. And he has a true feeling for the romantic style.” (Harold C. Schonberg)

2011/2012
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