Maria João Pires (born in Lisbon, Portugal, July 23, 1944) is a renowned Po… Read Full Bio ↴Maria João Pires (born in Lisbon, Portugal, July 23, 1944) is a renowned Portuguese pianist who currently lives in Brazil.
Her first recital was at age five, and at age seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later, she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon Conservatory, taking courses in composition, theory, and history of music. She continued her studies in Germany, first in the Musikakademie of Munich with Rosl Schmidt and then in Hanover with Karl Engel.
International fame came in 1970, when she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels. She has since then regularly performed with major orchestras throughout the world, interpreting works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and many other classical and romantic composers. She appears regularly with major world orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Japan.
She appears as a solo artist and in chamber music: her many successful recordings include Moonlight, featuring Beethoven sonatas, Le Voyage Magnifique, the complete Impromptus of Schubert, Nocturnes and other works by Chopin, and Mozart Trios with Augustin Dumay (violin) and Jiang Wang (cello).
She won the Pessoa Prize in 1989. She also founded the Belgais Centre for Study of the Arts.
Gramophone (magazine) selected her recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes as the best version available: "I have no hesitation in declaring Maria Joao Pires – a pianist without a trace of narcissism – among the most eloquent master-musicians of our time" (Bryce Morrison).
In 2006 she moved to Lauro de Freitas—a town near Salvador, Brazil—and continues performing. At the time of her move, she commented that she had suffered much in Portugal due to her Belgais Centre project.
Her first recital was at age five, and at age seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later, she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon Conservatory, taking courses in composition, theory, and history of music. She continued her studies in Germany, first in the Musikakademie of Munich with Rosl Schmidt and then in Hanover with Karl Engel.
International fame came in 1970, when she won the Beethoven Bicentennial Competition in Brussels. She has since then regularly performed with major orchestras throughout the world, interpreting works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and many other classical and romantic composers. She appears regularly with major world orchestras in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Japan.
She appears as a solo artist and in chamber music: her many successful recordings include Moonlight, featuring Beethoven sonatas, Le Voyage Magnifique, the complete Impromptus of Schubert, Nocturnes and other works by Chopin, and Mozart Trios with Augustin Dumay (violin) and Jiang Wang (cello).
She won the Pessoa Prize in 1989. She also founded the Belgais Centre for Study of the Arts.
Gramophone (magazine) selected her recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes as the best version available: "I have no hesitation in declaring Maria Joao Pires – a pianist without a trace of narcissism – among the most eloquent master-musicians of our time" (Bryce Morrison).
In 2006 she moved to Lauro de Freitas—a town near Salvador, Brazil—and continues performing. At the time of her move, she commented that she had suffered much in Portugal due to her Belgais Centre project.
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Piano Concerto No.17 in G major K453 : I Allegro
Maria João Pires Lyrics
No lyrics text found for this track.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
SW
I love this recording so much. I listen to it almost everyday now. It has a vibrance that is very rare. Thank you for all the joyful moments. I wish more people could know of this brilliant recording.
davidhertzberg
Jessica W Thank you, so glad to hear it!
phynesse2000
Those few bars of piano solo in the second movement, after the orchestra comes to a full stop, are just sublime: 15:53 thanks for posting.
Ricardo Mena
Her playing is outstanding. Comparisons are odious–nothing
else compares to her.
Eric Mayer
Amen!
Anton Wills-Eve
For many people this is the most enjoyable of all Mozart's pano cncertos as it is light hearted from start to finish. One can also feel the composer in a happy frame of mind doing something that both greatly pleases and amuses him at the same time. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the lovely finale. It is Mozart having one last fling at enjoying his youth before growing up to face the realities of the world. And nobody, but nobody captures this spirit of carefree enjoyment better than Maria Joao Pires. She is the master of Mozart's keyboard works and this is proof that she can see right through him and reproduce exactly what he is feelig no matter which of his works she is playing. This is genius of a level attained by very few people in any walk of life. Grazzie Maria.
mckavitt
Anton Wills-Eve Obrigado to Maria. :-)
Frans Meersman
What a very fine comment ! Kind regards
Junior Campbell
the adagio on the other hand is is heartbreakingly WA Mozart, and a gift to open your soul .. and, difficult to play
Bruno Prestat
thanks for all this notes about this LP. The orchestra and conductor are above all critics . This must be a very rare album.