Intermezzo at 1:00 this week: Celebrating the recording legacy of Murray Perahia

On Friday, April 19th, the American pianist Murray Perahia will celebrate his 77th birthday.

Widely considered to be one of the greatest living pianists in world today, Murray (Moshe) Perahia was born in the Bronx in 1947 to Sephardic-Jewish parents who originally came from Greece.

Perahia would go on to study at Mannes College in New York, with his mentor Mieczyslaw Horoszowski. Perahia would also end up studying at the Marlboro Festival in the summers. It’s there where he would meet and perform along the likes of Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals.

In 1965 Perahia was a winner in the Young Artists International Auditions which are held in New York. The winners are provided with management, and are given the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Centre in Washington.

In 1972 he would go on to win the very prestigious Leeds Piano Competition, becoming the first North American to take first prize at the competition.

Perahia has since become not only a renowned soloist and conductor. (He notably has conducted The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.) He is also a leading interpreter of music from such composers as Mozart, Scarlatti, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann. He has won 3 Grammys and 9 Gramophone Awards, and collaborated with a who’s who of the upper echelon of 20th and 21st century classical artists.

Tune in this week at 1:00 to hear examples from Perahia’s extraordinary recording Legacy.