Pogorelich, Ivo

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Pogorelich, Ivo

Pogorelich, Ivo , provocative Yugoslav pianist; b. Belgrade, Oct. 20, 1958. He commenced piano lessons in Belgrade when he was 7, and when he was 11 he became a pupil of A. Timakin in Moscow. After studies at its Central Music School, he continued his training at the Moscow Cons., where he became a student of Aliza Kezeradze in 1976; they married in 1980. After winning 5 competitions in his homeland and the Casagrande Competition in Terni, Italy (1978), he captured 1st prize in the Montreal Competition in 1980; later that year he entered the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, where he became the center of a major controversy after he was eliminated from its final round; one of the jurors, Martha Argerich, resigned in protest and declared that Pogorelich was a “genius”; a group of Polish music critics were moved to give him a special prize. In 1981 he made his Carnegie Hall debut in N.Y. in a recital, and that same year he made his London debut. He subsequently toured all over the world, appearing both as a soloist with orchs. and as a recitalist. His phenomenal technical mastery is well suited in showcasing his brilliant but idiosyncratic interpretations of works ranging from Bach to Bartók. He and his wife founded the Ivo Pogorelich International Solo Piano Competition, a triennial event first held in Pasadena in 1993.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire