- Eric Himy
Eric Himy is an American-born classical pianist of French-Spanish-Morrocan descent.
Life
Born in
Brooklyn , NY, Himy beganpiano studies at age six, giving his first concert at age 10. He was guest soloist with theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra at age 15, and at 19 he made hisNational Symphony Orchestra debut underHugh Wolf going on to win numerous competitions and awards including the Gold Medal at the 1988World Piano Competition inCincinnati , theKosciuszko Chopin Prize inNew York , and top honors in the 1991Milosz Magin International Competition inParis .Education
Studying both
biochemistry andmusic at the University of Maryland with Thomas Schumacher (disciple of Robert Goldsand), Himy later received a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York working with Adele Marcus (disciple of Arthur Schnabel and Josef Lhevinne) and Josef Villa (disciple of Olga Barabini and Claudio Arrau). He has also given masterclasses atPrinceton University ,The University of Texas ,The University of San Francisco ,Portland State University , andThe University of Utah , among others.Piano playing
The
New York Times described his playing as "flawlessly poised, elegant, and brilliant."
Praised for his formidable technique and many varied colors (His technique has been compared by the 2007 Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande to that of the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz and called him " a sensual gourmand of sound ") he has received critical acclaim for his interpretations of Transcriptions (including some of his own), French, Spanish andRomantic music . Himy has given recitals in theUnited States ,Argentina ,Belgium , Brazil,Bulgaria ,Chile ,Czech Republic ,Egypt ,France , Italy,Monaco ,Morocco , Poland, Portugal, Russia,Spain , andSlovenia . He has performed notably atLincoln Center ,The Kennedy Center ,Carnegie Recital Hall ,The Frick Collection ,The Phillips Collection , Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris and on NPR "Performance Today". In 2000, Himy gave an all-Ravel tribute re-creating historic performances given by Cortot and Gieseking. And in France the performance was compared to those ofArgerich andFrançois .In 2003 Himy released an all-Ravel CD described by the BBC as one of the finest Ravel CDs ever made. He also recorded the Rhapsody in Blue in an all-Gershwin CD which features Gershwin transcriptions of his own and those of Earl Wild. His latest CDs (Mozart, Schumann [picked by BBC Magazine December 2007 issue as CD of the month] ) were released in 2007 and Three CDs are planned for 2008 featuring all-Liszt, all-Debussy and some Chamber music of Debussy, Faure and Rachmaninov with members of the San Juan Symphony, Puerto Rico and Cellist Emilio Colon. Eric Himy was featured on the cover of the 2006 May/June issue of Clavier and in the June 2007 of the UK Musical Opinion. For the ‘06-07, '07-08 season he performed more than 70 concerts worldwide. Mr. Himy was invited by the Bernstein family to celebrate the 90th anniversary tribute to Leonard Bernstein in a gala concert held at the 2008 Lukas Foss Music Festival in the Hamptons.
elected discography
* Eric Himy The Art of the Transcription for Piano (BNL, 1999)
* Eric Himy Plays Ravel (Ivory Classics, 2003)
* Gershwin, The Art of the Transcription (Centaur, 2004)
* Homage to Schumann 2006 (Centaur, 2006)
* Homage to Mozart 2006 (Centaur, 2006)
* Homage to Debussy 2008 (Centaur, 2008)
* Homage to Liszt 2008 (Centaur, 2008)References
* Howard Pollack "George Gershwin His Life and his Work" (2006) University of California Press [http://books.google.com/books?id=VN8PWhVnazwC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=eric+himy+pollack&source=web&ots=HqIHKyjkoH&sig=oCHC4FHIfb61K999eglvT51xKCk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result]
External links
* [http://www.erichimy.com Eric Himy Official Website]
* [http://ivoryclassics.com Ivory Classics ]
* [http://centaurrecords.com Centaur Records]
* [http://emiliocolon.com Cellist Emilio Colon]
* [http://www.masonhamlin.com/ Mason & Hamlin Pianos]
* [http://www.steingraeber.de/ Steingraeber Pianos]
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