Maurizio Pollini Biography

Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942) is an Italian classical pianist. He is especially noted for his performances of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Schoenberg, Webern and for championing modern composers such as Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Giacomo Manzoni, Salvatore Sciarrino and Bruno Maderna. Important modern works have been composed for Pollini, notably Nono's …sofferte onde serene…, Manzoni's Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse and Sciarrino's Fifth Sonata. Pollini has conducted both opera and orchestral music, sometimes leading the orchestra from the keyboard in concertos.