Biography
Winner of numerous national and international awards, Portuguese pianist Artur Pereira has received great acclaim for his compelling and original interpretations. His individual style is based on a profound awareness of the composers’ language and of the period’s performing practices.
Artur performs regularly as soloist and chamber musician in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Chile and South Africa. He is often invited as a soloist with orchestra, frequently interpreting Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos. As a chamber musician, Artur also appears regularly in several ensemble combinations to great appraisal.
As a recording artist, Artur’s albums feature historically informed performances of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and piano music by Portuguese composers. These recordings are part of his seven-year project to record the complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and lesser-known music by Portuguese composers. His albums have received prizes and critical praise in Gramophone, International Piano, Musical Opinion, and ClassicsToday.com, among others. In Germany, Orchestergraben tagged his second album as ‘the surprise of the year’ and included it among the five best classical albums for 2021. In the same year, he was awarded Portugal’s Prémio Animarte Mérito Artístico (The Animarte Artistic Merit Prize). The following year, in the USA, Poemas do Monte received a silver medal at the Global Music Awards.
Artur Pereira is also an author. His book Beethoven’s Dedications: Stories behind the Tributes, released in January 2021 by Routledge, has been highly praised by reviewers. His research interests focus on the music of Beethoven and the early Romantic period, following his Doctorate, awarded by the University of Manchester in 2016, on Beethoven’s dedications, under eminent Beethoven Scholar Professor Barry Cooper, and fully funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. Lately, Artur’s research interests have extended to the life and works of Portuguese composer Luiz Costa both as performer and editor. His first recording of Costa’s complete Poemas do Monte (Poems from the Mountain) was released in 2022, followed by the publication of an Urtext’s critical edition.
Artur was taught by renowned pianists, including Helena de Sá e Costa, Constantin Sandu, Nina Schumann, Benjamin van Eeden, Norma Fischer, Vladimir Viardo, Sequeira Costa, Konstantin Scherbakov, Steven Osborne and Leslie Howard.
To find out more about Artur and his music see his website:
www.arturpereirapianist.com