The celebrated pianist Gary Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since winning the prestigious Leventritt Award in 1949. For the next three decades he toured almost continuously, playing the most demanding works in the piano literature both in recital and with the world's great orchestras. In 1979, however, Mr. Graffman's performing career was curtailed by an injury to his right hand. His performances are now limited to the small but brilliant repertoire of concertos written for the left hand alone.
Gary Graffman has also devoted a large part of his life to education. Most notable has been his leadership of the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He first joined its piano faculty in 1980 and became Director of the all-scholarship conservatory in 1986. He was appointed President of The Curtis Institute in 1995, a position he served until May 2006 ... read full bio
Gary Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen. For the next three decades he toured almost constantly, playing the most demanding works in the piano literature. His numerous recordings with the orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago under such conductors as Bernstein, Ormandy, Szell and Mehta include concertos by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Brahms, Chopin and Beethoven; they are still regarded as touchtones. In 1979, however, an injury to his right hand limited Mr. Graffman’s concertizing to the small body of music written for the left hand alone, and he joined the faculty of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. In 1986—exactly fifty years after entering Curtis as a seven-year-old student, Mr. Graffman was appointed director of that renowned all-scholarship conservatory, also serving as its president from 1995 to 2006. Now retired from administrative duties, Mr. Graffman remains on the Curtis faculty while continuing his active concert career as a one-handed pianist. In addition to major left-hand concertos by Ravel, Prokofiev, Britten, Strauss and Korngold, Mr. Graffman’s current repertoire includes six new concertos and one chamber music work commissioned for him as well as complete recitals for the left hand alone.
