Ivo Pogorelich

Ivo Pogorelich ranks among today's most polarizing keyboard artists, celebrated for interpretations that frequently diverge from conventional readings of the printed score. When operating at full capacity, he generates a level of rhythmic momentum and expressive force rivaled by few contemporaries.

Born in Belgrade—then part of Yugoslavia—on October 20, 1958, as Ivo Pogorelić (a spelling occasionally retained), he grew up with a Croatian father and a Serbian mother. Following Yugoslavia's breakup in 1991, he acquired Croatian citizenship. He began piano studies at age seven in his hometown, where his exceptional gifts soon became apparent; at twelve he relocated to Moscow, enrolling at the Central Music School before completing a degree at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

His principal mentor was Aliza Kezeradze, a former pupil of Alexander Siloti, who himself had studied with Liszt. Despite a gap of more than twenty years in their ages, the pair married; Kezeradze passed away in 1996. Prior to the 1980 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Pogorelich had already secured victories in several other contests. His elimination after the third round led juror Martha Argerich to resign in protest.

He first appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1981. The next year Deutsche Grammophon offered him a contract, and his initial release for the label—a recording of Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82—received favorable notice. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he performed concertos with nearly every major orchestra and presented frequent solo recitals. At the height of his renown he remarked that critics would review him even if he merely wiped dust from the instrument.

To support emerging talent, he founded the Ivo Pogorelich Foundation in Croatia in 1989 and launched the Ivo Pogorelich Piano Competition in California in 1993. During the early 1990s he also organized benefit concerts for Sarajevo residents amid the Bosnian War. He remained with Deutsche Grammophon, where reviews of his discs varied yet sales and audience interest stayed robust. Activity diminished in the 2000s and 2010s; although a comprehensive edition of his earlier Deutsche Grammophon recordings appeared in 2015, no new sessions took place between 2012 and 2019. That year he issued a Sony Classical album featuring sonatas by Beethoven and Rachmaninov. In 2021 he toured with the Basel Kammerorchester, and the following year he released the recital disc Chopin, also on Sony Classical. His 2022 calendar included recitals across Croatia, numerous western European nations, the United States, and Canada.