Ralf Gothóni • piano

Biography

Finnish-German pianist, conductor, and composer Ralf Gothóni, who lives in Spain, has enjoyed a diverse international career since the 1960s. As a pianist, he was awarded the prestigious American Gilmore Prize in 1994, among other honors, and has enjoyed a long-standing collaboration with the English Chamber Orchestra, where he was principal conductor from 2001 to 2010. Due to osteoarthritis, he ended his solo career in 2007 and continues to perform as a chamber musician and conductor. As an educator, he has held professorships at seven European universities, organized and founded festivals and international music associations between many countries, and continues to give master classes worldwide.

More than 100 recordings document his career as a pianist and conductor. He is also a frequent guest jury member at major competitions and is the initiator of the International Shanghai Musician Competition, a new type of piano competition in which participants must master solo repertoire, chamber music, and song interpretation in equal measure, as well as conduct an orchestra from the piano. His compositions span genres from chamber music to opera, and he has published three books of essays on musical phenomenology. 

His last major project was to perform and record all 46 symphonies by Mozart with the Korean Chamber Orchestra in Seoul.