Artur Pizarro

Portugal's Artur Pizarro represents an artistic lineage stretching directly back to Franz Liszt. He has recorded many albums for Linn, Collins, Odradek, and other labels. Pizarro was born in Lisbon in 1968. He was a child prodigy who gave his first performance at age three. The following year, he appeared on Portuguese television. Mostly, however, he avoided public recitals as a child and concentrated on his studies. When he was 13, he began giving public performances, first with a solo recital at the São Luíz Theatre in Lisbon and concerto appearance with Lisbon's Gulbenkian Orchestra. He took lessons in Portugal from Campos Coelho and then from Sequeira Costa; Costa's teacher was José Vianna da Motta, who had been one of Liszt's last pupils. When Costa landed a job at the University of Kansas in 1977, Pizarro moved to the U.S. to continue his studies with him. Those lessons lasted until 1990, but along the way, Pizarro also took classes with various other pianists, including Bruno Rigutto at the Conservatoire de Paris as well as Aldo Ciccolini. Wins at several major competitions helped him gain notice; these included the Vianna da Motta Competition in 1987, the Greater Palm Beach Symphony Competition in 1988, and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1990. In 1992, Pizarro made his recording debut on Collins Records with a performance of Liszt's Sonata in B minor. He continued to record for Collins through the late '90s, with a repertory centered on Romantic music. He also recorded Russian, Portuguese, and Spanish works. Pizarro has appeared with major orchestras both within and outside Portugal, performing under such major conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon Rattle, and Charles Dutoit. Since his Leeds victory, he has been especially well known in Britain and has performed numerous concerts there. In 2010, to celebrate the bicentennial of Chopin's birth, he performed Chopin's complete works at St. John's, Smith Square, in London. In addition to solo work, Pizarro is an enthusiastic chamber musician; he formed the Pizarro Trio with violinist Raphaël Oleg and cellist Josephine Knight, and he appears in piano duos with Vita Panomariovaite and Rinaldo Zhok. Pizarro began recording for Linn in 2003, issuing an album of Beethoven's last three piano sonatas. He has also recorded for Brilliant, Naxos, and other labels, including Odradek, where he issued a complete cycle of Rachmaninov's solo piano works on seven CDs in 2016. ~ James Manheim, Rovi