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Ponti, Michael (29th October 1937-17th October 2022)

He was a classical pianist born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, who performed as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles.  He studied the piano in Washington DC from 1942 and then Frankfurt from 1955 to 1961.

Winning many international piano competitions including the Busoni award, he made his debut in Vienna in 1964 where he played Bartok’s 2nd concerto.  He debuted in Now York in 1972 where he gained acclaim from many musical critics and was featured in Life Magazine, Time Magazine and the New York Times.

He gave hundreds of concerts in worldwide cities including Vienna, New York, London and Tokyo, made more than 80 recordings, and was described as “ten pianists in one”.

In 1977 he co-founded the Ponti-Zimansky-Polasek Trio with Jan Polasek on cello and Robert Zimanksy on violin.

In the 1990s he suffered a stroke which left him without the use of his right arm and hand, but did perform left handed music for a period after some rehabilitation.

He died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany in October 2022 when he was 84 years old.

Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg recordings
Piano Concerto No. 2 in E (Eugen d’Albert)
Vox 7206 (CD: The Franz Liszt School , Vol. 1)
Conductor – Richard Kapp
Piano – Michael Ponti

South-west German Chamber Orchestra recordings
Concerto da camera No. 2 in C-sharp Minor (Charles-Valentin Alkan)
VOX 0 47163 50982
Conductor – Paul Angerer
Piano – Michael Ponti

Sources:

  1. http://www.naxos.com/artistinfo/piano-614.htm
  2. http://en.allexperts.com/e/m/mi/michael_ponti.htm
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ponti