ILAN ROGOFF
The pianist, Ilan Rogoff, needs no introduction to music lovers in his native Israel. Dozens of concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Israel and abroad as well as recitals, chamber music and concerts with other orchestras have established him as one of Israel's favourite artists. His studies of the piano were conducted with the distinguished exponents of the Eastern European Virtuoso school - Karol Klein, Stefan Askenase and Vladimir Horowitz, and with those of the Germanic tradition - Leonard Shure and Claudio Arrau. His own very personal style has evolved from a synthesis of both traditions.
Ilan Rogoff has appeared in most European , American and Latin American music centres as well as in South Africa, Japan and the Far East. Among the conductors he greatly enjoyed working with are: Aharonovitch, Allemandi, Barshai, Bender, Bloemstedt, Chmura, Commissiona, De Preist, Dorati, Justus Frantz, Giulini, Griffith, Groves, Herbig, Klecki, Krips, Kuhn, Lopes-Cobos, Mayer, Michniewski, Rodan, Saccani, Kurt Sanderling (with whom he recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra for the Unicorn label), Thomas Sanderling, Shallon, Sherrif, Skrowacewski, Stein, Steinberg, Talmi, Weller, Zaliouk and with Zubin Mehta on tours of the the IPO in North & South America.
Ilan Rogoff is reknowned for his interpretations of the Romantic composers. His recordings of the Fantasies of Schumann and Schubert (on the Nimbus label) was chosen as one of the years' best by "Records & Recordings". Having gained special recognition for his interpretations of Chopin's music, he recorded for the BBC the music for the television series "Notorious Woman" on the life of George Sand. Not withstanding his special interest in the Romantic composers, he performs regularly 20th century and contemporary music and has given the World Premiere of piano concerti composed for and dedicated to him by John McCabe's (3rd piano concerto) in England and Ivan Eröd in Vienna.
From 1985 through 1990, Ilan Rogoff resided in South America were he performed frequently as a conductor and performing cycles of Beethoven and Mozart concerti conducting from the keyboard. This led to his conducting debuts in the Far East, Europe, Latin America, USA in 1986 and with the Israel Philharmonic in the1989/1990 season. He has also collaborated with the soloists of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the soloists of the Vienna Philharmonic, Enesco Quartet, New World Quartet, Orpheus Quartet, Párkányi Quartet (ex-=orlando), Amati Trio, and various chamber music groups. He combines his concert schedule with Master Classes which he conducted, among others, at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, at the Tansman Festival in Lodz,t the Gstaadt Winter Music Festival, in Norfolk,Va., Washington D.C., in Israel, South America and at the “Cursos Manuel De Falla” as part of the Granada International Festival.
Since 1991, Ilan Rogoff has chosen Mallorca as a base and has appeared as soloist with Spain's National Symphony Orchestra at the National Theatre and with the Radio & TV orchestra in Madrid, as well as with other orchestras in Spain. He has also performed in Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Ferrol, Girona, Granada, Ibiza, Jaen, Madrid, Mallorca, Menorca, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Seville, Tenerife, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza among other music centers, while contributing periodically to various music publications.
The acclaim and awards won by his double CD encompassing the integral works composed by Chopin in Mallorca and related works ("Chopin in Mallorca" - Preludio/Blau Records 10011/2), is now in its 10th edition. It led to engagements at New York's Metropolitan Museum, Washington's Dumbarton Series, in Austria, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Paris, Cannes, Monte Carlo, at the Granada International Festival of Music and Dance, Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Euriade Festival, Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, Chopin Festival in Valldemossa, Spring Festival in Seville,Gstaadt Winter Music Festival,Ibiza International Festival and on tours of South America, South Africa, the Carribean and Israel. This album was followed by a CD titled “Portraits”, dedicated to works by Schumann (carnaval, Fantasie and G minor Sonata), now in its second edition. His CD recording of both Chopin Concerti in the version for piano and String Quintet was recorded with the soloists of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, a versión which received the highest accolades from music critics and audiences. His latest CD contains his transcrptions and arrangemets for piano solo of twelve works by Astor Piazzolla, titled “Urban Nostalgia”. The piano scores “Urban Nostalgia” and his edited verison of the two Chopin Concerti is available from MPH Music in Germany. (www.musikmph.de).