Pianist
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
- This article deals with those who play the piano. For other uses, see pianist (disambiguation).
A pianist is a person who plays the piano reasonably well.
A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an orchestra or smaller ensemble, or accompany one or more singers or solo instrumentalists.
A performing classical pianist usually starts playing piano at a very young age, some as early as three years old. Many well-known classical composers were able pianists themselves; for example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Sergei Rachmaninoff were all virtuoso pianists. Most pianists specialize in certain composer(s)'s music to some extent.
Most western forms of music can make use of the piano. Consequently, pianists have a wide variety of forms and styles to choose from, including jazz, classical music, and all sorts of popular music.
Well-known or influential classical pianists:
- Bonnie Mitchell(also known for playing harp)
- Valery Afanassiev
- Pierre-Laurent Aimard
- Dimitri Alexeev
- Charles-Valentin Alkan
- Leif Ove Andsnes
- Martha Argerich
- Claudio Arrau
- Vladimir Ashkenazy
- Gina Bachauer
- Wilhelm Backhaus
- Paul Badura-Skoda
- Daniel Barenboim
- Simon Barere
- David Bates
- Bart Berman
- Lazar Berman
- Idil Biret
- Jorge Bolet
- Hendrik Bouman
- Alfred Brendel
- Hans von Bülow
- Ferrucio Busoni
- Bruno Canino
- Robert Casadesus
- Shura Cherkassky
- Dino Ciani
- Aldo Ciccolini
- Van Cliburn
- Harriet Cohen
- Naida Cole
- Jean-Philippe Collard
- Alfred Cortot
- Clifford Curzon
- Kristian Cvetkovic
- Georges Cziffra
- Bella Davidovich
- Alicia de Larrocha
- Vasso Devetsi
- Peter Donohoe
- Barry Douglas
- Hans Eijsackers
- Vladimir Feltsman
- Annie Fischer
- Edwin Fischer
- Leon Fleisher
- Ignaz Friedman
- Ossip Gabrilowitsch
- Walter Gieseking
- Emil Gilels
- Jacob Gimpel
- Grigory Ginsburg
- Katrine Gislinge
- Leopold Godowsky
- Misha Goldstein
- Richard Goode
- Glenn Gould
- Lola Graham
- Gary Graffman
- Hélène Grimaud
- Friedrich Gulda
- Horatio Gutierrez
- Marc-André Hamelin
- Clara Haskil
- Ingrid Haebler
- Gerard Hengeveld
- Myra Hess
- Angela Hewitt
- Josef Hofmann
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Mieczyslaw Horszowski
- Stephen Hough
- Peter Jablonski
- Jeno Jando
- Byron Janis
- William Kapell
- Julius Katchen
- Rudolf Kehrer
- Freddy Kempf
- Wilhelm Kempff
- Olga Kern
- Evgeny Kissin
- Zoltán Kocsis
- Raoul Koczalski
- Tzvetan Konstantinov
- Stephen Kovacevich
- Katia Labèque
- Marielle Labèque
- Felix Lavilla
- Josef Lhévinne
- Rosina Lhévinne
- Yundi Li
- John Lill
- Dinu Lipatti
- Eugene List
- Franz Liszt
- Yvonne Loriod
- Louis Lortie
- Jacques Loussier
- Radu Lupu
- Maura Lympany
- Joanna MacGregor
- Hephzibah Menuhin
- Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
- Ivan Moravec
- Benno Moiseiwitsch
- Jon Nakamatsu
- Tatiana Nikolayeva
- John Ogdon
- Garrick Ohlsson
- Gerhard Oppitz
- Ignace Paderewski
- Murray Perahia
- Bernaldo Evangelista
- Jon Kimura Parker
- Alfredo Perl
- Vlado Perlemuter
- Egon Petri
- Maria Joao Pires
- Artur Pizarro
- Mikhail Pletnev
- Ivo Pogorelich
- Maurizio Pollini
- Viktoria Postnikova
- Menahem Pressler
- André Prévin
- Eduaro del Pueyo
- Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff
- Livia Rev
- Karl Richter
- Hans Richter-Haaser
- Sviatoslav Richter
- Bernard Roberts
- Moriz Rosenthal
- Charles Rosen
- Arthur Rubinstein
- Nikolai Rubinstein
- Emil von Sauer
- András Schiff
- Artur Schnabel
- Peter Serkin
- Rudolf Serkin
- Craig Sheppard
- Ronald Smith
- Vladimir Sofronitsky
- Grigory Sokolov
- Juan Maria Solare
- Solomon
- Jean-Yves Thibaudet
- Alexander Toradze
- David Tudor
- Dubravka Tomšič
- Rosalyn Tureck (also famous for her harpsichord playing)
- Fou Tsong
- Mitsuko Uchida
- Arcadi Volodos
- André Watts
- Alexis Weissenberg
- Earl Wild
- Elisso Wirssaladze
- Paul Wittgenstein
- Oxana Yablonskaya
- Maria Yudina
- Christian Zacharias
- Krystian Zimerman
- Aleksandra Romanic
Well known pop music pianists:
- Tori Amos
- Oksana Kolesnikova
- Vanessa Carlton
- Russ Conway
- Liberace
- Billy Joel
- Elton John
- Norah Jones
- Alicia Keys
- Barry Manilow
- Ben Folds
Well known blues pianists include:
- Ray Charles also jazz, and country music
- Fats Domino
- Little Willie Littlefield
- Professor Longhair
- Jimmy Yancey
- Otis Spann
See the List of boogie woogie musicians for more blues players.
Well known country piano pickers include:
- Owen Bradley, also a record producer
- Floyd Cramer, "Last Date"
- Mickey Gilley, cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart
- Jerry Lee Lewis, also rock and roll
- Ronnie Milsap
- Moon Mullican, "I'll Sail My Ship Alone"
- Charlie Rich
- Hargus "Pig" Robbins, legendary session player
- Fred Rose, also a music publisher
- Del Wood, "Down Yonder"
Well known gospel or contemporary Christian pianists include:
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