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Artist Profile — Menahem Pressler

Quick Links: www.menahempressler.org    iTunes Downloads

Photos by: Marco Borgreve

With a career spanning nearly five decades, Menahem Pressler has not only established himself as a brilliant soloist, but he's also a renowned pedagogue and internationally acclaimed chamber musician. This unique combination of talent has made him one of today's most honored and distinguished artists.

Born in Magdeburg, Germany, Pressler received the majority of his early musical training in Israel. Arriving in the United States in 1946, Pressler's career kicked off with a first-place finish in San Francisco's Debussy Piano Competition, followed by his American concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. From there, Pressler began extensive tours across Europe and North America with the world's finest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, among others. As a soloist, Pressler has made over 30 recordings, ranging from the works of Bach to Ben Haim.

In 1955, Pressler opened another chapter in his career, making his debut as a chamber musician with the Beaux Arts Trio at the Berkshire Music Festival. The trio would gain immense notoriety, and despite several personnel changes over the years, Pressler's command of the piano has maintained the group's reputation as one of the finest chamber music ensembles of this age. Setting the standard for performance of piano trio literature in over 50 recordings, the Beaux Arts Trio has been lauded with numerous honors, including Musical America's Ensemble of the Year in 1997, three Grand Prix du Disques, and the Grand Prix Mondial du Disque. Playing upwards of 100 concerts annually, some of their landmark projects include the "December Evenings" Festival in Moscow, at the invitation of Sviatoslav Richter, and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The 2004-2005 season marked the trio's 50th anniversary, and Pressler, along with current members Daniel Hope on violin and Antonio Meneses on cello, celebrated the milestone with three coast-to-coast tours of North America.

During the same year he founded the Beaux Arts Trio, Pressler began teaching at Indiana University's School of Music. To honor his outstanding instructional abilities, the institution made him Distinguished Professor of Music. Other schools, such as the University of Nebraska, the University of Kansas, and the North Carolina School of the Arts, have awarded him honorary doctorates.

As far as musical accolades, Pressler has been nominated for four Grammys, awarded the Distinguished Service Award by Chamber Music America in 1994, selected for a Lifetime Achievement Award by Gramophone magazine in 1998, and in 2002, he garnered the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters. In 2003, Pressler celebrated his 80th birthday on Dec. 16 ? the same as Beethoven's ? with a recital at the Library of Congress.