CYPRIEN KATSARIS

Cyprien Katsaris, a French pianist of the present era, has earned recognition for his seemingly natural command of technique along with precise mastery over voicing, phrasing, and dynamic shading. Equally committed to reviving overlooked and long-neglected composers, he was born in Marseilles in 1951 and first touched the keyboard at the age of four. His early years unfolded in Cameroon, where he attended the neighborhood school and took piano lessons from Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse. He later entered the Paris Conservatory, studying piano under Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie while receiving chamber-music guidance from René Leroy and Jean Hubeau. His first public appearance took place in Paris in 1966, when he performed with the Orchestre Symphonique d'Ile-de-France under René-Pierre Chouteau. At the conservatory he distinguished himself by capturing first prize in piano in 1969 and another in chamber music the following year. The decisive breakthrough arrived in 1974 with his victory at the International Cziffra Competition, after which invitations arrived from leading concert halls everywhere, including collaborations with Leonard Bernstein, Antal Dorati, and numerous other distinguished conductors. In 1977 he received the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO award, and the next year he toured with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. Early in the 1980s he began an association with the Teldec label, committing to disc all nine of Liszt’s piano transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies—works renowned for their formidable technical demands. Successive Grand Prix du Disque honors followed in 1984, 1985, and 1989, while a demanding calendar of concerts and recordings continued through the 1990s. He also figured in an NHK-produced Japanese television documentary series devoted to Frederic Chopin that aired in 1992. Five years afterward he was named an Artist of UNESCO for Peace. In 2001 Katsaris established the PIANO 21 label expressly to issue material drawn from his private archives, selected reissues, and rarely heard repertoire; roughly forty albums have appeared under its imprint since then. While performing a recital in Berlin in 2012 he experienced a stroke that momentarily deprived him of feeling on the left side of his body, yet he regained full function within twenty-four hours, an outcome he credited to his adherence to Scientology. Into the present decade Katsaris has maintained an active life on stage and in the studio. His 2022 recording of Saint-Saëns: Piano Transcriptions, released on PIANO 21, was selected by Gramophone as an Editor’s Choice among the finest solo-piano discs of that year. During 2023 he presented recitals across Europe that featured improvised pieces and also contributed to the album Mozart: Don Juan in transcription for piano solo by Bizet.