Amir Katz

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Amir Katz (born May 9, 1973 in Ramat Gan , Israel ) is an Israeli pianist .

Life

Amir Katz did not begin to play the piano until he was 11. His first teacher, Hanna Shalgi, discovered his talent and promoted his career. As a 15-year-old Katz could already be heard with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Chamber Orchestra . In 1993 he won his first international competition, the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona . Further victories followed at the Robert Casadesus competition in Cleveland and the Viotti Valsesia competition in Italy. Equipped with scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation , he continued his education in Europe, among others with Sulamita Aronovsky in London. Later, with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service, he moved to Munich, where he studied with Elisso Wirsaladse . He received lessons from Leon Fleisher , Karl Ulrich Schnabel and Murray Perahia at the International Piano Foundation on Lake Como . In 2003 Katz won the Schubert competition in Dortmund.

Amir Katz is now invited to concerts by orchestras and festivals around the world. He appears in the most important halls in Europe, Asia and the USA, such as the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Tonhalle Zurich , the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Lincoln Center New York. He has also given concerts at international music festivals such as the Savannah Music Festival , the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, and the Oleg Kagan Musikfest Kreuth. His concerts are regularly recorded for radio and television. Amir Katz has played several times with the Orquestra Sinfònica de Barcelona , the Israel Camerata , the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra , the Chamber Symphony of Princeton , the Orchester National de Lille , the Dortmund Philharmonic , the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen , the Prague Chamber Orchestra , the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic .

In four major cycles performed worldwide, he interpreted all of Franz Schubert's sonatas and impromptus , the 48 “ Songs without Words ” by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Frédéric Chopin's 21 Nocturnes .

Amir Katz recorded various CDs for the Live Classics , OehmsClassics and Sony Classical labels . His double CD with Felix Mendelssohn's “Songs without Words”, published by Live Classics, was voted the best CD of the last few months by the specialist classical music magazine “ crescendo ” in its 2009 summer edition. On the occasion of his debut at the Miami Piano Festival with Frédéric Chopin's 21 Nocturnes, the Miami Herald reviewed in April 2011: “Indeed, Katz seems to see the entire cycle as a great drama, a journey through joy, beauty and despair. Katz showed an impressive sense of artistic daring, fearlessly he steered the music past existing artistic conventions. Much of the cycle developed in a fresh and moving way - a remarkable artistic achievement. "

Discography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katz Biography ( Memento from September 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Katz, Amir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli pianist
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Ramat Gan , Israel