Background
Zimerman was born in Zabrze, Poland, and studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice under Andrzej Jasiński.
composer conductor music educator pianist
Zimerman was born in Zabrze, Poland, and studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice under Andrzej Jasiński.
He performed with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan in 1976 and he made his debut in the United States with the New York Philharmonic in 1979. He has toured widely and made a number of recordings. Since 1996, he has taught piano at the Academy of Music in Basel, Switzerland.
In 1999, Zimerman created the Polish Festival Orchestra to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Chopin"s death.
Zimerman is best known for his interpretations of Romantic music, but has performed a wide variety of classical pieces as well. He has also been a supporter of contemporary music
Foreign example, Witold Lutosławski wrote his piano concerto for Zimerman, who later recorded lieutenant Amongst his best-known recordings are the piano concerti of Grieg and Schumann with conductor Herbert von Karajan.
The Brahms concerti with Leonard Bernstein, the piano concerti of Chopin, one recording conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and a later one conducted by himself at the keyboard.
The Third, Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos of Beethoven under Bernstein (Zimerman himself led the accompaniment of the Vienna Philharmonic from the keyboard in Beethoven"s First and Second Concertos). The first and second piano concerti of Rachmaninoff. The piano concerti of Liszt with Seiji Ozawa, the piano concerti of Ravel with Pierre Boulez, and solo piano works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Schubert.
In 2006, Zimerman recorded Brahms" Piano Concerto Number.
1 with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (Directorate General 477 5413. Limited Edition Directorate General 477 6021).
On April 26, 2009, Zimerman vowed to his audience at Los Angeles"s Walt Disney Concert Hall that, in protest of America"s placement of a missile defense shield in Poland, this would be his final appearance in the United States. He had made a similar comment in 2006, stating he would not return until George West. Bush was out of office.
Participant of his disenchantment with the United States of America may be that with the stepped up militarization and security at United States airports, it has become increasingly difficult to bring his piano into the country.
In incidents in 2001 and 2006, one of his Steinway pianos was completely destroyed and another one damaged by security staff at New York"s John F Kennedy airport.