Murray Perahia

The concert pianist and conductor Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx district of New York to a Jewish family who originated from Thessaloniki, Greece. Although he started piano lessons at the age of four Perahia found the constant practice and repetition of set pieces to be very limiting and has stated in interviews he didn't truly become interested in music until he was 15, at which point he began to take his training very seriously.

From the age of 17 he attended the renowned Mannes School of Music in Manhattan's Upper West Side where he was mentored by the diminutive Polish piano virtuoso Mieczyslaw Horszowski. After winning first prize at the prestigious Leeds Piano Competition in England, the young pianist began to draw the attention of the international classical music fraternity.

From 1973 to 2010 Perahia recorded exclusively for Columbia Masterworks (now known as Sony Classical) but unfortunately for the latter part of his performing career he has been plagued by a hand injury following septicaemia which set in after he lacerated his thumb in 1990. After a number of concert cancellations in 2007 and 2008 Perahia returned to a busy touring, overcoming his injury and winning wide critical acclaim for his performances of Beethoven's 'Hammerklavia Sonata'.