Krystian Zimerman

Krystian Zimerman is a Polish classical pianist noted for his precise and attentive technique with virtuoso renditions of the general repertoire but especially the works of Frederic Chopin. When the 150th anniversary of the composer's death was marked in 1999, Zimerman announced a series of concerts in Europe and America in which he would again perform Chopin's concertos. Zimerman has recorded almost two dozen albums under an exclusive contract with classical music label Deutsche Grammophon that, as well as Chopin, also feature works by Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Franz Schubert and Bela Bartók.

Zimerman studied music with his father, also a pianist, as well as Andrzej Jasinski and Artur Rubinstein. He performed in concert in his teenage years and in 1973 he came first in the Ludwig van Beethoven International Piano Competition in Hradec Kralove. Two years later, he won the International Chopin Competition. He was awarded the Accademia Chigiana in Siena for Best Young Musician of the Year in 1985.

Since then, he has worked with a galaxy of classical conductors including Pierre Boulez, Herbert von Karajan, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, André Previn and Simon Rattle, with Leonard Bernstein chosing him to play piano when he recorded the Beethoven and Brahms piano concertos in the 1980s.

A demanding and outspoken individual, Zimerman caused controversy in 2009 when he objected to American military activity in his homeland and vowed that he would not perform again in the United States. In 2017 he released a solo album recording of two Schubert sonatas, 'Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major, D959' and 'Piano Sonata No. 21 in B Flat Major, D960'.