Born
in Marseille in 1951, Cyprien Katsaris studied at the Paris Conservatoire with
Aline van Barentzen, Monique de la Bruchollerie and Jean Hubeau.
He has been a top prize winner at several international competitions
notably winning the Unesco 1967 Tribune des Jeunes Interpretes Competition,
the 1974 Cziffra Competition, the 1972 Queen Elisabeth Competition, the 1970
Albert Roussel Competition and a
Certificate of Honour at the 1970 Tchaikovsky Competition.
Cyprien
has since worked with major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic,
Cleveland Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonia Orchestra and
the Concertgebouw Orchestra working with Leonard Bernstein, Christoph von
Dohnanyi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kurt Masur, Sandor Vegh, Eliahu Inbal,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Ivan Fisher among others. Cyprien has also been
interested in forgotten music such as Liszt
and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in the Hungarian Style which he brought
back to life in a recording with Eugen Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
His has given further recitals at the Carnegie Hall in
New York, in St Petersburg, in Brusselsat the Théâtre de la Monnaie,
Budapest and Tokyo.
As
a chamber musician Cyprien enjoys working with singers and formed
a few years ago the ‘Katsaris Piano Quintet’ was highly acclaimed
by the press and the audience during several tours in throughout the world
including the USA, Europe and Japan.
Cyprien
has been conducting master classes at the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Royal
Conservatory of the Hague, the Arts Academy in Mexico, the University of
Toronto and the Academy of Performing Arts in Hong Kong, and has been member
of the jury of the Warsaw Competition and the Liszt
International Competition in Utrecht as well as a music director of the
Echertnach Festival
in Luxembourg since 1977.
Cyprien
has extensively recorded for Teldec, Sony Classical, EMI, Deutsche Gramophon,
BMG, DECCA, Pavane and received numerous awards: “Grand
Prix du Disque Franz Liszt” in Budapest in 1984 and “Record of the Year Award” in Germany for Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony as transcribed by Franz Liszt also awarded “Disc
of the Year” in Germany; “Grand
prix du Disque Frederic Chopin” in Warsaw, for his recording of
Chopin’s Ballade and Scherzi in 1985, the “British
Music Retailer’s Association’s Award” for a recording dedicated to
Liszt in 1986; and once again “Grand
Prix du Disque Franz Liszt” Budapest in 1989 for Beethoven/Liszt 1st
and 2nd Symphonies.
In
1992 the Japanese NHK TV produced a thirteen program series on Chopin with
Cyprien Katsaris (master classes and performances).
In
October 1997 Frederico Mayor General Director of the UNESCO named Cyprien ‘the
Artist’ for
the UNESCO FOR PEACE
charity.
