The Oxford Philomusica

Seventh International Piano Festival : 23 - 30 July 2005

Faculty - Cyprien Katsaris

Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, was born in Marseilles. He has won First Prize in many competitions including the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. He has appeared with the worldÍs leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington DC, Detroit Symphony, Philharmonia (London), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has played under Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sandor Vegh, and Vladimir Fedoseyev. Mr Katsaris has recorded for Teldec , Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, BMG-RCA, Decca, Pavane, and now on his own label, Piano 21. Appointed in 1977 Artistic Director of the International Festival of Echternach in Luxembourg, Mr Katsaris is: "Artist of Unesco for Peace" (1997) and "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters" (France, 2000).