Piano Recital by Martinos Tirimos Comes to the Rialto Theatre

Regarded by both critics and fellow artists as one of today’s most distinguished musicians, Martino Tirimo will present some of the greatest works of the classical repertoire: Beethoven’s 7 Ländlerische Tänze WoO11 and Sonata No.32 in C minor Op.111. Schumann’s Fantasy in C major Op.17 and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.12.

Regarded by both critics and fellow artists as one of today’s most distinguished musicians, Martino Tirimo’s career started early. From age eight he was performing Concertos and at twelve conducted seven complete performances of ‘La Traviata’, with orchestra and soloists from La Scala, Milano. Born in Larnaka into a musical family, he first studied piano and violin with his father Dimitri, a distinguished violinist and opera conductor. After winning the Liszt Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London at 16, he studied there and graduated with the highest honors, winning all prizes. He completed his studies at the Vienna Music Academy and finally with Gordon Green, whom he regarded as his greatest mentor. Victories at the international piano competitions in Munich and Geneva launched his international career. 

In 2010 alone, he gave more than 100 concerts including the complete works of Chopin at London’s Kings Place, described by critics as “a colossal feat”. He has performed all over the world with most major orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bayerisher Rundfunk, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony, Philharmonia, all BBC and all other major UK orchestras, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English Chamber, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Prague Chamber and numerous others and has worked with distinguished conductors such as Barbirolli, Boult, Bychkov, Marriner, Masur, Norrington, Rattle and Kurt Sanderling.

His numerous recordings for EMI, Warner, Hänssler, Nimbus and other companies include the complete works of Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Janacek, Schubert’s 21 Sonatas and the Concertos of Brahms, Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninov and Tippett (with composer conducting), with London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC  Philharmonic and Prague Chamber orchestras. In 1995 he won a Gold Disc for his Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 and ‘Paganini’ Rhapsody, one of EMI’s best-sellers. 

As conductor, he worked closely with the Dresden Philharmonic over many years, and also worked with orchestras such as the English Chamber, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Prague Chamber. His compositions include the film score for the ‘Odyssey’. In 2002 he founded the Rosamunde Trio, which has since concertized widely in Europe and the US.  He also works with talented young pianists and twelve of his students have won first prizes at international competitions. Moreover, he is in demand for masterclasses worldwide, most recently at festivals in Japan, China, the USA and Italy.

His enormous repertoire embraces 80 Concertos and nearly the entire major solo works of the great composers. He is particularly famous for his Schubert interpretations, having given the first-ever cycle of all the Sonatas at London’s South Bank and many other series at Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, devoted to all the composer’s major works. His edition of the 21 Sonatas in three volumes is published by the prestigious firm of Wiener Urtext Edition. 

Other notable events include many series devoted to Mozart’s complete piano works, Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas and all of Chopin’s and Debussy’s works. With the Rosamunde Trio, he has performed all the Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Dvorak and Shostakovich Piano Trios. In 2016, engagements included a five-concert festival in London comprising all the great Piano Quintets, in collaboration with five distinguished String Quartets. Of numerous festival appearances, memorable was his Beethoven Concerto No.4 during the Olympic period in Athens with the Vienna Philharmonic. At that time, he also had the honor of running with the Olympic torch, perhaps the first classical musician to do so. In recent years his tours have also included concerts in Asia, notably China and Japan.  In 2011 he was awarded the Nemitsas Foundation Prize for Excellence in the Arts and Sciences. 

In October 2019 Hänssler Classic released the first ever truly complete recording of Beethoven’s entire Piano Solo Works on the modern piano. The boxed set of 16 CDs, all of which he recorded at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, comprises more than 20 hours of music and includes many fine pieces which are little-known and rarely played, like the many elegant Dances. 

In an article comparing all recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas, The Spectator concluded that this “new cycle sweeps all before it” and that this is “surely the greatest recorded achievement of this anniversary year.”

The Daily Telegraph has characterized him as “a pianist of vision” and “an inspiring poet of the piano” and ‘Musical Opinion’ described him as “a true giant of the keyboard”. 

In Music and Vision, critic Bill Newman simply wrote: “Tirimo's playing belongs to a past generation of 'greats'. Listening to him, I conjure up aural images of Solomon, Arrau, Kempff, Schnabel, and Rubinstein. Throughout the evening, one was consistently aware that this supreme musician placed himself entirely at the service of the composer.”

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