The legendary Martha Argerich and her appearance at the Dvořák Prague Festival in 2022 was spectacular. We are incredibly grateful that she has accepted our invitation once again this year. In recent years, Martha Argerich has tailored her concert activities to ensure that she feels comfortable on stage. She performs as a soloist with orchestras that she is familiar with, or with colleagues with whom she works regularly. On this occasion, she will be joined by pianist Sophie Pacini, to whom Martha Argerich generously gives her own space in combined programmes for two and one piano.

Hector Berlioz once wrote about his fellow composer, the phenomenal Franz Liszt, that “…the pianists have their God.” Today, there is no doubt that the Goddess of contemporary female pianists is Martha Argerich: a name that needs no introduction. It is therefore no surprise that the majority of the programme of her joint concert with German pianist Sophia Pacini consists of works by Liszt. The music of the composer who unlocked the vast interpretative possibilities of modern piano is now in the hands of a woman who has demonstrated to the world that a fantastic virtuoso with enormous mental and physical potential does not necessarily have to be a man. With a colleague precisely half a century her junior, they leap off a Mozartian foundation to immerse themselves in Liszt’s neo-Romantic eruptions. In addition to the Consolations, they will perform his arrangement of the overture to the opera Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, Liszt’s son-in-law. And after Liszt, the two pianos and Mozart will return in a masterful recollection of the “Prague” opera of all operas, Don Giovanni.

Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She began her first piano lessons at the age of five with Vincenzo SCARAMUZZA. Considered a child prodigy, she soon began performing in public. In 1955, she moved to Europe and continued her studies in London, Vienna, and in Switzerland with SEIDLHOFER, GULDA, MAGALOFF, Mrs LIPATTI and Stefan ASKENASE. In 1957, she won the Bolzano and Geneva Piano Competitions, and in 1965 the Warsaw International Chopin Competition. Since then, she has been one of the most prominent pianists in the world both in popularity and ability.

Martha Argerich has been rated highly for her performance of the virtuoso piano literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her extensive repertoire includes Bach and Bartok, Beethoven and Messiaen, as well as Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Franck, Prokofiev, Stravinski, Shostakovitch, and Tchaikovski.

Though she is regularly invited by the most prestigious orchestras, conductors, and music festivals in Europe, Japan, America, and Israel (with Zubin Mehta and Lahav Shani), chamber music comprises a significant part of her musical life. She regularly plays and records with Nelson FREIRE, Alexandre RABINOVITCH, Mischa MAISKY, Gidon KREMER, and Daniel BARENBOIM: « This harmony within a group of people gives me a strong and peaceful feeling ».

Martha Argerich has recorded for EMI, Sony, Philips, Teldec, and DGG, and many of her performances have been broadcasted on television worldwide. She has received many awards : “Grammy Award” for Bartok and Prokofiev Concertos, “Gramophon – Artist of the Year”, “Best Piano Concerto Recording of the Year” for Chopin concertos, “Choc” of the Monde de la Musique for her Amsterdam’s recital, “Künstler des Jahres Deutscher Schallplatten Kritik”, “Grammy Award” for Prokofiev’s Cinderella with Mikhael Pletnev and recently a “Grammy Award” for Beethoven Concertos 2 & 3 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Claudio Abbado (DGG / Best Instrumental Soloist Performance), “Sunday Times – Record of the Year” and “BBC Music Magazine Award” for her Shostakovitch recording (EMI – 2007). Her latest recordings include Mozart concertos K466 and K503 with Orchestra Mozart et Claudio Abbado and a duo recital with Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon.)

Since 1998, she has been the Artistic Director of the Beppu Festival in Japan; in 1999, she created the International Piano Competition and Festival Martha Argerich in Buenos Aires, and in June 2002, the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano. In 2018, she launched the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg.

Martha Argerich has received numerous distinctions: – “Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” in 1996 and “Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ” in 2004 by the French Government – “Accademica di Santa Cecilia” in Rome in 1997 – “Musician of the Year” by Musical America 2001 – « The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette » by the Japanese Emperor and the prestigious « Praemium Imperiale » by the Japan Art Association in 2005. – Kennedy Center Honors by Barack Obama in December 2016 – Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella in October 2018.

On December 12 at the Élysée Palace, Martha Argerich was elevated to the rank of Commander of the Legion of Honor by French President Emmanuel Macron.

source: Artemon Music

Since her concert debut at the age of eight, this Italian-German pianist has appeared in many renowned concert halls throughout the world including Philharmonie München, Philharmonie Berlin, Suntory Hall and Orchard Hall in Tokyo, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Luzern, plus the concert halls in Vienna, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Paris, Brussels, and Wigmore Hall in London.

She began her studies at the age of ten as a student of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Salzburg Mozarteum, then moved to the newly founded Institute for Highly Gifted Students. She earned her diploma in 2011 with honors while she continued to join master classes by Pavel Gililov, Dmitri Bashkirov and Fou Ts’ong.

In recital, she has performed at international festivals such as Lucerne Piano Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Piano Festival aux Jacobins Toulouse, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus with Gidon Kremer, MDR Musiksommer, Rheingau Musikfestival, Young Euro Classic Berlin, and Progetto Martha Argerich.

As a soloist, Sophie Pacini has appeared with orchestras such as Gewandhausorchester zu Leipzig, Camerata Salzburg, Dresdner Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester Bern, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Suntory Hall and Orchard Hall.

Pacini has been awarded a number of prestigious prizes, most recently the Young Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards "ICMA", the ECHO Klassik in the category of „Rising Artist / Piano“. She was awarded the Prix “Group Edmond de Rothschild” at the Sommets Musical de Gstaad as well as the „Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk“, as "one the greatest talents of their generation.

Sophie’s last two albums “In Between”, contrasting the works of Schumann and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy with those of their wife and sister, as well as “Rimembranza” and also her in 2023 newly released album „Puzzle“ have been topping the classical charts for months.

Sophie Pacini's special focus is on bringing classical music to the next generation, in the context of her own concert activities and in numerous publications. In present times, where our music life is made arbitrary by the unfiltered digitization of music, she strongly advocates for a new awareness of art and for new forms of conveying classical music.

Consequentially, she was made the Beethoven representative for the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (BR Klassik) and the German GOETHE Institute. As a recipient of the Deutschlandfunk grant, she designs new concert formats and she is a coveted dialogue partner in the media. Sophie is a scholarship holder of “der Deutsche Musikrat”.

Since 2023, she has been member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

An intimate friendship, both personal and artistic, connects Sophie with the legendary Martha Argerich, with whom she shares the stage for selected duo concerts.

source: Artemon Music

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.