Maurizio Pollini
(c) Cosimo Filippini
Italian pianist and conductor Maurizio Pollini has died at the age of 82. This was announced by La Scala in his hometown of Milan. The opera house mourned « one of the great musicians of our time ». Pollini had cancelled most of his planned concerts in the last year.
Pollini was the son of Italian architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio Pollini made his debut as a pianist at the age of nine. He studied with Carlo Lonati until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso until the age of 18. He received his diploma from the Conservatorio di musica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano. Later he also studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
At the 1957 Geneva International Piano Competition, where no first prize was awarded, Pollini won second prize. In 1959 he won the Ettore Pozzoli Competition in Seregno and the following year the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Since then he has performed internationally. Critics have described his style as unsentimental and intense, perfect and unique, clear and brilliant.
His repertoire includes the great piano works of the classical period as well as contemporary music.
Maurizio Pollini: « Unsere Klaviere passen genau auf Beethovens Klangvorstellungen »
