Ivan Moravec’s performances and recordings alike have prompted critics in search of parallels to call up such names as Gieseking and Richter. Yet, his musicianship — while it challenges comparison with these masters — is riviting and penetratingly individual in style.
Mr. Moravec was born in Prague in 1930, and until the age of fifteen, his main musical interest was opera. He later studied piano at the Prague Conservatory and the Prague Academy, performing during his student years in Poland and Hungary. In 1957, pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli heard Mr. Moravec perform in Prague and invited him to Italy for further study. Consequently, he particpated in Michelangeli’s master classes in Arezzo in 1957 and 1958.
He made his London début in 1959, and five years later, his American début at Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. The following month he was invited by Szell to make his Carnegie Hall début during the Cleveland’s annual week of appearances there.
Since then, he has performed with such pre-eminent orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestras, and given recitals in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center. His recent festival appearances in the United States include Tanglewood, Blossom, Ravinia, the Hollywood Bowl, Caramoor, and New York City's Mostly Mozart Festival.
In Europe, Ivan Moravec is regularly welcomed in recital and as a concerto soloist in major music capitals from London to Rome and from St. Petersburg to Paris. He recently completed a third highly acclaimed tour of Australia, and a second tour of Japan including appearances in Tokyo. International festival appearances include the Salzburg, Edinburg, Aldeburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, and Prague Spring Festivals.
In June, 1997, Mr. Moravec was honored by National Public Radio’s Performance Today as one of nine nominees for “Player of the Year.” Fellow nominees included Yo-Yo Ma, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Robert Shaw.
Ivan Moravec has an extensive discography, recording for Nonesuch, Supraphon, Connoisseur Society, Pro Arte, Quintessence, Vox, and Moss Music. His recordings are regularly listed as “Record of the Year” in High Fidelity, Stereo Review, The New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. He recorded the Schumann and Brahms First Concerto with the Dallas Symphony under Eduardo Mata, as well as the complete Scherzos of Chopin for Dorian. His legendary Connoisseur Society recordings of music by Chopin, Ravel, Debussy, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart have been released by VAI Audio. He is included in the epic series Great Pianists of the Twentiety Century from Philips. His most recent recordings are four Mozart Piano Concertos (K.491, 466, 488, and 503) with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields on the Hänssler label, one volume of which was awarded the 1999 Cannes Classical Award.