Venue: Concert Hall

Dates: October 14, 2018

Programme

Beethoven

Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat major

Franz Schubert

Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958

——Intermission——

Claude Debussy

Images pour piano No. 1-6

Frederic Chopin

Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op. 22

Artist

Gerhard Oppitz Pianist

Gerhard Oppitz was born in Frauenau (in the Bavarian Forest) in 1953. At the age of five, he began to play piano and debuted with a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor when he was 11. Along with his great enthusiasm for school, especially for science and mathematics, he continued his musical education in Stuttgart and Munich starting in 1966 with professors Paul Buck and Hugo Steurer, and later with Wilhelm Kempff, concentrating on the works of Beethoven.

In 1977, he was awarded first prize at the Artur Rubinstein Competition in Israel, after convincing an international jury, with Artur Rubinstein himself as its head, by performing the Fifth Piano Concerto by Beethoven and the First Piano Concerto by Brahms. This event marked the beginning of his worldwide concert activities - recitals in the major music centres of Europe, America and East Asia, as well as collaborations with the most renowned conductors and orchestras.

Gerhard Oppitz continues touring to China: last season he played Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, in October 2015 he performed both Brahms Concertos at the Beijing Concert Hall with WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln under Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In May 2017 he returned for a tour with the Berner Symphonieorchester and Mario Venezago. In autumn 2017 he participated for the first time in the International Music Festival “Eurasia”.

His main interest is the classical-romantic repertoire, although he has always devoted himself to music of the 20th century, as well, playing premiere performances of several piano concertos. Again and again, he has demonstrated his particular fondness for presenting major groups of work cycles, such as Bach’s “Wohltemperiertes Klavier”, Mozart’s 18 Sonatas, Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas, all the solo works by Schubert and Brahms’ complete piano works. Gerhard Oppitz’ discography comprises over 70 titles. Future plans include performances of all Mozart piano concertos, the main piano works of Liszt and the complete solo works of Debussy and Ravel.

In 2014 he was awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.

In addition to Gerhard Oppitz’ busy playing, the pianist also has a broad spectrum of other interests: he is a qualified professional air pilot and frequently pilots himself to his concert engagements across Europe. He is an informed gourmet and a connoisseur of fine wines. He speaks seven languages and lives with his Japanese wife near Munich.