Murray Perahia

Murray Perahia has earned widespread admiration for his command of technically and interpretively demanding works that stretch from Bach to Schumann. Much of his extensive discography appeared on CBS Masterworks and its successor Sony Classical. Fellow musicians hold him in exceptionally high regard, an esteem reflected in three Grammy Awards and multiple Gramophone Awards from Britain, the country where he resides. A hand injury that troubled him in later years led to his most recent release, a 2018 account of Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas.

Born in the Bronx on 19 April 1947, Perahia is the son of Jewish immigrants who arrived from Thessaloniki, Greece; Ladino was the language he first spoke at home. Although his childhood commitment to the piano remained lukewarm, his engagement deepened sharply at fifteen, a development he has never been able to explain. He pursued formal studies at Manhattan’s Mannes College of Music under Mieczysław Horszowski and Artur Balsam. During summers he received further guidance from Rudolf Serkin and other distinguished artists, frequently performing four-hand repertoire with Serkin and later serving as his assistant at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. Critical praise greeted his 1968 Carnegie Hall debut, yet his decisive breakthrough came in 1972 when he became the first North American to capture the top prize at the Leeds Piano Competition. CBS Masterworks promptly engaged him, and the following year he issued his debut album, pairing Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, with the Fantasiestücke, Op. 12.

Over a five-decade career Perahia stood among the foremost pianists on the international stage. While living in London with his wife Ninette Shohet and their two sons, he appeared regularly in recital and as concerto soloist across major musical centers. In the late 1980s he shared artistic direction of the Aldeburgh Festival; in subsequent seasons he frequently led Mozart piano concertos from the keyboard. An infection that began with a cut thumb in 1990, compounded by bone problems in his hand, forced him to withdraw from the concert platform for several years. During that interval he immersed himself more deeply in Bach’s music, returning in 1999 with a recording of the English Suites that earned a Grammy. Two additional Grammy Awards, along with two nominations, recognized his 2000 traversal of the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988.

Perahia’s catalogue encompasses works by Franck, Grieg, and Bartók, yet the core consists of music from Bach through Schumann, including a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. He remained under exclusive contract with CBS/Sony from 1973 to 2011, after which the label continued to reissue his recordings. In the following decade he made several discs for Deutsche Grammophon, among them the 2018 pairing of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”), and Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”). By then his total output exceeded one hundred albums. Although his public appearances diminished during the 2020s, he continued to receive honors, including designation as an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 and an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in 2024. He has conducted masterclasses at the Juilliard School, Stanford University, and other institutions, and he leads summer teaching programs at the Jerusalem Music Centre, where he serves as president.