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Pianist Peter Donohoe: Anything Goes!

Over his more than forty-year career, the acclaimed British pianist Peter Donohoe has become known as one of the foremost pianists of our time.  A Silver Medal winner of the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the list of places he's performed and musicians he's performed with is as long as his repertoire is wide.

After attending the Chetham School of Music, followed by graduation from Leeds University and the Royal Northern College of Music, Donohoe studied in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. He was a prize-winner at the British Lizst Competition in London and the Bartok-Lizst Piano Competition in Budapest in 1976, and the Leeds International Piano Competition in 1981. The Moscow Tchiakovsky Competition prize followed in 1982.

In Donohoe's performances, as well as his many recordings for the EMI, Naxos, Chandos and Hyperion labels, his repertoire encompasses almost anything a classical pianist would play.  Albeniz to Webern, Alwyn to Walton, Bach to Tchaikovsky, he'll play them all, solo and concerto, with commanding technique. He estimates his concerto repertoire alone to be around 160 works. He has a special place in his heart for British piano concertos, having founded the British Piano Concerto Foundation.  The foundation is currently collaborating with the Naxos label to preserve the legacy of British piano works.

Mr Donohoe received the honor of being named a Commander of the O.B.E. in 2010.

Friday January 4th at 8pm, Peter Donohoe will perform a program featuring the music of George Gershwin and Duke Ellington, with the Ama Deus Ensemble, in the Kimmel Center's Perlman Theater. Part of Vox Amadeus' 26th Anniversary Season, details are available at voxamadeus.org or 610.688.2800.  Tickets are available at the Kimmel Center Box Office or 215.893.1999.

Listen for pianist Peter Donohoe on Crossover, Saturday morning at 1130am on WRTI-FM, repeated Friday evening at 7pm on WRTI-HD2 and the All-Classical web stream.