Artur Pizarro - Chopin: Sonatas (2006)

Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro was a child prodigy, giving his first performance at age three at the Lisbon Conservatory. He studied piano with Campos Coelho and Sequeira Costa, and moved to the United States in 1977 to continue his studies with Costa. Pizarro also studied with Aldo Ciccolini. Pizarro resumed public performances at age 13, giving a solo recital at the Sao Luiz Theatre in Lisbon, and performing a concerto with the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Pizarro is the winner of several competitions, including the Vianna da Motta Competition in 1987, the Greater Palm Beach Symphony Competition in 1988, and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1990. Pizarro's career has taken him around the world as a concerto soloist, though he is also an avid chamber musician, playing with violinist Raphael Oleg and cellist Josephine Knight in the Pizarro Trio, and he has performed in piano duos with Vita Panomariovaite and Rinaldo Zhok. In 2010, to celebrate Frederic Chopin's bicentennial, he performed the complete works at St. John's Smith Square, London. Pizarro has recorded for Linn Records, Naxos, Hyperion, Collins Classics, and Odradek.