Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Top 10/Top 20 Pianists Currently Performing/Touring Widely?

In other words, not Sokolov since apparently he doesn't come to the US. I am trying to increase my classical music knowledge, http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2032307/gonew/1/ and would like to know who I definitely shouldn't miss when he/she comes to Washington, DC or Baltimore.

By "Top 10" I mean the ones that you think are best or would most want to see perform.

Kissin and Hamelin

You should not miss anyone. Especially, you should go to as many student recitals as you can. They may be one of the top performers some day, or they may be one that has not been discovered, and they may never be discovered. A local performer could be as great a pianist as a touring professional, but may not want that career. You just never know.

YouTube is the best to listen to an incredible amount of classical piano performances from any and all of the great pianists.

One could spend HOURS exploring all the wealth on YouTube.

And I do...

Yesterday it was Judy Garland. (What charisma the lady had.) But tonight perhaps a search for selections from the Eton Choirbook. All this and pianists too!

Don't miss Stephen Hough.

I definitely won't go just to the top 10 or 20. BDB, I regularly go to the Peabody Conservatory free Thursday noon recitals. http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/events/thursdaynoon.html

But it would be nice to know who more experienced people perceive as the top performers, since (as far as I can tell), there really aren't any towering figures like, say, Horowitz.

Yuja Wang

I think Europe alone counts as performing widely. Europeans don't get to hear Bronfman or Thibaudet as much as we do.

So, that in mind:

Volodos
Sokolov
Pollini
Perahia
Bavouzet
Denk
Hamelin
Grosvenor
Volodin
Biss


...among many others.

Lupu
Ohlsson
Uchida
Andsnes
Freire
Thibaudet
Denk
Biss
Queffelec
Osborne
Trpceski
Kocsis
Wang
Tomsic
Nel
Ax

Don't know if Richard Goode is still touring - if so, him.

Goode is touring with a late Beethoven sonatas program this year.
It was also nice to see that Pollini is scheduled to perform in Europe and the US this year after a 2 year absence. He is planning an All Beethoven concert in May and Chopin+Debussy's Preludes I in April.


Don't forget chamber music. Isserlis and Kirill Gerstein are touring the US with a marvelous program of Brahms sonatas for cello+piano and Ades' Lieux retrouves in several venues this year. The music making is superb and very moving.


Did anyone mention Lugansky?

Wow. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I started to drool when I read this!

(Concerts are a tough deal for me nowadays, because I currently live a 3 hour drive away from a major city.)

Live concert is better.

That recital was probably one of the most beautiful two hour spans I have spent, in a while. I was moved not just by the beauty of the music, but by the intense musicianship and dedication to the music by two amazing artists. There was such great synergy between them and so little drama and ego display. Breathtaking! Travel the 3 hours if they land anywhere near you!

I guess that there are some great pianists who don't (or won't) play in the USA for whatever reason these days. Among the pianists I never miss are Krystian Zimerman and Mikhail Pletnev (who recently raised hopes he might start playing in public again). Benjamin Grosvenor recently joined that group. And now that I've heard her, Yuja Wang too.

Oh, and Lang Lang, who never fails to lift my spirits, whether or not I agree with what he does .

I have seen Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, and Perahia. I have a ticket to see Kissin in April. Pollini is also coming in April and I plan to see him. I had a ticket for Hamelin (Baltimore's Shriver Hall concert series) but unfortunately was not able to make it.

Sokolov and Pletnev are very distinctive in performance while the rest of the above lists are wonderful but to me not as fulfilling. Its like seeing Gilels at Carnegie Hall when I was in college. Just mind altering playing everyone else is so similar.

I'd give doing so at least a second-thought if my personal Steinway concert D was destroyed by U.S. airport security because it smelled funny.

I do wish I could see - among others - those on your list.

I recommend attending recitals at universities and music schools in your area, especially those given by faculty and visiting artists. I've attended some that were more enjoyable than those given by famous artists, for no charge or a nominal fee.

Go hear everyone that you possibly can. There are a few names I'd leave OFF that list, but I won't bother with that now.

By the way, I assume you enjoyed Angela's recital? I told you she'd love the flowers.