Menahem Pressler

PIANO

Menahem Pressler is one of the world's most distinguished and honored musicians, with a career that spans nearly six decades. Born in Magdeburg, Germany, Pressler received most of his musical training in Israel and began his international musical odyssey when he was awarded first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946, followed by his North American concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy.

Since then, Mr. Pressler has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Pittsburg Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de Belgique, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of Kurt Masur.

In 1955, Mr. Pressler co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio, which has become one of the most enduring and widely acclaimed chamber music ensembles in musical history. The Beaux Arts has made more than 50 recordings on the Philips label, and has performed around the globe, winning numerous international honors.
Mr. Pressler also appears frequently in recital, including concerts in recent years at Carnegie Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston , the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and in Toronto, St. Louis and Los Angeles . In the 2003-2004 season, he celebrated his 80th birthday with a recital at the Library of Congress in Washington and was featured in a series of concerts entitled "The Art of Menahem Pressler" at the Metropolitan Museum in New York . He is a frequent guest artist with chamber ensembles, including the American, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, and Tokyo String Quartets.

In May 2002, Mr. Pressler was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters, recognizing him for "a long and distinguished career not only as an internationally recognized concert artist but also a teacher and mentor of young artists." Previous winners have included Mikhail Baryshnikov, Louise Nevelson, Jose Ferrer, Mstislav Rostropovich and Marilyn Horne. He was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000, and in 1998 he received one of only five Lifetime Achievement Awards granted in the last fifty years by Gramophone magazine, placing him in the distinguished company of Joan Sutherland, Sir Georg Solti, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Yehudi Menuhin. In 1994, he was honored with Chamber Music America \'s Distinguished Service Award.

Mr. Pressler holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Indiana University , where he has been a faculty member since 1955, and he gives frequent master classes at institutions around the world. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Nebraska, the University of Kansas, and the North Carolina School of the Arts.