arts and letters

Description

Cyprien Katsaris is a French-Cypriot pianist, teacher and composer. He was born on 5 May 1951, in Marseilles, France.Katsaris first began to play the piano when he was four, in Cameroon where he grew up. His first teacher was Marie-Gabrielle Louwerse. He studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie, and in 1969 he won the piano First Prize.[citation needed] As well as piano, Katsaris also studied chamber music with René Leroy and Jean Hubeau, and he won First Prize for this in 1970. Katsaris gave his first public concert in Paris, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 8 May 1966. He performed the Hungarian Fantasy by Liszt, with the Orchestre Symphonique d'Ile-de-France conducted by René-Pierre Chouteau. Since then he has carried on to perform with many orchestras and conductors.[1] Katsaris has recorded the complete Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies, reissued by Warner Classics in 2006. He has also recorded the music of Mozart, Chopin, Grieg, and other composers, including the rare piano version of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Brigitte Fassbaender and Thomas Moser. 1970 : Albert Roussel Foundation Prize (Paris). Cyprien Katsaris Winning Awards: 1972 : Prize-winner at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. 1972 : The Alex de Vries Foundation Prize (Antwerp). 1974 : First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles). 1977 : First Prize in the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO (Bratislava). 1977 : Knight of the Order of Merit (Cameroon). 1997 : UNESCO Artist for Peace. 2000 : Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France). 2001 : Vermeil Medal of the City of Paris (Paris). 2009 : Commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 2011 : Nemitsas Prize (Cyprus).