SIMON TRPČESKI
Piano
Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, playing with “fluent, muscular [and] humorous” (New York Times) flare, and well-known for his commitment to strengthening Macedonia’s cultural image.
Trpčeski is a frequent soloist in the UK with the London Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool and London Philharmonic orchestras. He has also performed alongside the prestigious Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam, Russian National and Bolshoi Theatre orchestras, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, DSO and RSO Berlin, WDR Cologne, as well as Royal Stockholm, Oslo, Bergen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Orchestre National de France, Galicia, EUYO, New York, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland,Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Franciscoand Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Trpčeski has worked with a prominent list of conductors including Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, Sakari Oramo, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Thomas Dausgaard, Robin Ticciati,Susanna Malkki, Andris Nelsons, KrzysztofUrbanski, Jakub Hrusa, Dima Slobodeniouk, Lionel Bringuier, Andres Orozco Estrada,Lahav Shani, Marin Alsop and Gianandrea Noseda.A superb recitalist, he has also given solo performances in such cultural capitals as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., London, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Dublin, Lisbon, Prague, and Tokyo.
During the 2017/18 season Trpčeski will reunite with the San Francisco Symphony (this time under the baton of Ed Gardner), St.Louis Symphony Gala concerts (with David Robertson), CBSO (with VassilySinaisky), Philharmonia (with Urbanski), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (Jaime Martin) and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich on tour (with Lionel Bringuier), as well as joining Stavanger Symphony (with Cristian Macelaru), Teatro San Carlo (with JurajValcuha), BBC Scottish Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Ulster Orchestra and Slovenian Philharmonic (season opening and on tour), amongst others. Autumn 2017 marks the beginning of a string of diverse performances at London’s Wigmore Hall as an Artist in Residence, featuring duo recital with the cellist Daniel Muller Schott, as well as including the UK debut of the self-made folk-based project, “Makedonissimo”, celebrating the music, culture andpeople of his native Macedonia.
Recital performances for 2017/18 will see Trpčeskireturn to the UK to perform at Birmingham Town Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, a revisit to Seattle, as well as his highly anticipated recital debuts in Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney and Adelaide.
Highlights of Trpčeski’s 2016/17 season included the exciting world premiere of his new project “Makedonissimo”, with transcriptions of Macedonian folk music by the composer Pande Shahov in collaboration with Trpčeski, at the Ludwigsburg Festspiele and a repeated performance at the Ljubljana Festival.
He continued with a “thrilling” (Classical Source) performances alongside London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras (in twoconsecutive repeated engagements), as well as appearances with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic on tour, Orchestre de le Suisse Romande,Royal Scottish National, Netherlands Philharmonic in a highly successful live webstreamed Rachmaninov no.3 from the Concertgebouw, Orchestra Nacional de Catalunya, Staatskapelle Weimar, Hannover Opera, both HR Frankfurt and Dresden Philharmonic on tour, appearance at the Gala “Classic FM” concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as well as at the Opening of the new Concert Hall in Skopje, Macedonia with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra. Solo and chamber recitals saw Trpčeski also appear at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Bogota’s Teatro Mayor.
Trpčeski has received widespread acclaim for his recital recordings on the EMI label.His first recording, released in 2002, featured works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and received both the “Editor’s Choice” and “Debut Album” awards at the Gramophone Awards. After the equally applauded EMI discs with solo piano music by Rachmaninov, Chopin and Debussy, his March 2012 recital at the Wigmore Hall was released on the “Wigmore Hall Live” label, and was immediately hailed by The Telegraph as “Classical CD of the Week”. His July 2014 recital at the Wigmore Hall was released on the “Wigmore Hall Live” label as well.
Between 2010 and 2011 Trpčeski recorded all four of Rachmaninov’s piano concerti together with the Paganini Rhapsody, with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, released by the Avie label across two separate discs. Both of these recordings have been recognized with Classic FM, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and Diapason d’Or distinctions. After the equally successful Tchaikovsky Concertos disc, his latest CD is a “fiery” (The Guardian) recording of Prokofiev’s First and Third Piano Concerti, yet again winning the Diapason d’Or distinction in September 2017, with Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
With the special support of KulturOp – Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization – and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists. Most recently, in September 2011, he became the first ever recipient of the title “National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia”.