Ivo Pogorelić

Ivo Pogorelić is a Croatian pianist born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to a Serbian mother and a Croatian father. He began his piano studies at the age of seven. He received his musical education in Moscow, graduating from the Central Music School in 1973 under E. M. Timakin and from the Moscow Conservatory in 1978, where he was enrolled in the classes of V. V. Gornostaeva and E. V. Malinin. Concurrently, he studied intensively with Aliza Kezeradze, whom he married in 1980.

In 1978, Pogorelić won the piano competition in Terni, Italy, and two years later won the Montreal International Musical Competition. He gained worldwide fame in 1980 following a scandal at the X International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where the jury's decision to eliminate him before the third round led jury member Martha Argerich to resign in protest. This controversy helped launch his international career, leading to a highly successful solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 1981.

Pogorelić is a virtuoso pianist known for his wide tonal palette and original sense of tempo. His interpretations are often described as non-ordinary, with critics noting his impeccable technical mastery while sometimes characterizing his style as eccentric or mannerist due to his free treatment of the score. His repertoire spans from the music of Bach and Scarlatti to Prokofiev.

He has maintained a relatively small discography of 16 albums. After the death of his wife in 1996, he performed rarely and stopped making studio recordings for many years. He returned to recording in 2019 with an album featuring Beethoven sonatas and Rachmaninoff's Second Sonata, which elicited mixed critical reactions. Beyond performing, he has been active in supporting young musicians and served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He currently resides in Lugano, Switzerland.

Connections

This figure has 2 connections in the art history graph.