Simon Trpčeski

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable young musicians to have emerged in recent years, performing with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and captivating audiences worldwide. Mr. Trpčeski is praised not only for his impeccable technique and delicate expression, but also for his warm personality and commitment to strengthening Macedonia’s cultural image. The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini praises Trpčeski’s dazzling musicianship, saying “He tore through the double-octave outbursts with arm-blurring speed and no sense of strain. Yet in tenderly lyrical moments he caressed the phrases, playing with naturalness, never milking anything.”

Mr. Trpčeski has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras. He is a frequent soloist with the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia and Halle Orchestras and the London Philharmonic.  Other engagements with major European ensembles include the Royal Concertgebouw, Russian National and Bolshoi Theatre Orchestras, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Royal Stockholm, Royal Flanders and St. Petersburg Philharmonics. In North America, he has performed with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, The Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto and Baltimore, among others. Elsewhere he has performed with the New Japan, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and has toured with the New Zealand Symphony. Mr. Trpčeski has worked with a prominent list of conductors, including Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lionel Bringuier, Andrew Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier and David Zinman.

Mr. Trpčeski’s 2011-2012 season features a robust schedule of orchestral and recital performances. Worldwide orchestral highlights include engagements with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Bamberg Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras as well as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.  He will complete a Rachmaninov Piano Concerto cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and make his debut with the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Philharmonic Orchestras.  Mr. Trpčeski will also make his Carnegie Hall recital debut, and gives recitals in Paris, Hong Kong, London, Milan and Florence.

March 2010 saw Mr. Trpčeski’s concerto recording debut on the Avie label, showcasing Rachmaninov’s notoriously challenging Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The album was positioned in the Top 10 of both the Billboard Classical Chart and the UK’s specialist classical chart, and additionally won Diapason d’Or de l’année and Classic FM’s “Editor’s Choice” Awards. In June 2011, the Avie label released the second concerto album from Trpčeski, Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; the completion of Rachmaninov piano concerti, Nos. 1 and 4 alongside Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Geoffrey Norris, for Gramophone Magazine remarked, “This is a riveting disc, another major landmark for Trpčeski and one on which Rachmaninov finds interpreters thoroughly attuned to his emotional world. It was clear that Trpčeski was put on this earth to play this music and Petrenko to conduct it.” The second disc has been recognized with Classic FM, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and Diapason d’Or distinctions.

In December 2009, the President of Macedonia H.E. Gjorge Ivanov honored Simon Trpčeski with the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia. This decoration is given to foreign and domestic dignitaries responsible for the affirmation of Macedonia abroad.  Upon awarding Mr. Trpčeski with this honor, The President stated “By bringing his artistic talent to classical music halls around the world, Simon Trpčeski is among the greatest ambassadors of the Republic of Macedonia, demonstrating to the world that Macedonia is a land of exceptional artists. Through his subtle mission he has confirmed that, although the Republic of Macedonia is geographically small, it is a spiritually and artistically great country, with inexhaustible creativity to offer the cultures of the world.” Mr. Trpčeski is the youngest recipient of a medal of any kind in Macedonian history. Most recently in September 2011 he was awarded the first-ever title “National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia”.

A superb recitalist, Simon Trpčeski has given solo performances in such cultural capitals as New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Bilbao, Dublin and Tokyo. He has performed on the main stage of the Concertgebouw, as well as at the United Nations headquarters on the occasion of the closing of the sixty-second session of the U.N. General Assembly, at the invitation of the session’s President, H.E. Srgjan Kerim. Simon also performs chamber music as often as he can, having performed at such festivals as Aspen, Verbier and Risor, and in Summer 2011, Simon Trpčeski and cellist Nina Kotova preformed works by Chopin for a theatrical event based on the life of Frédéric Chopin featuring renowned actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy. With the special support of KulturOp—Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization—and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists.

Simon has received widespread acclaim for his recital recordings on the EMI label.  His first recording, released in 2002, featured works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and received both the “Editor’s Choice” and “Debut Album” awards at the Gramophone Awards. His 2005 Rachmaninoff and 2007 Chopin discs both received extensive praise from critics. In 2008, he released an all-Debussy disc entitled Debussy: Images, which was equally applauded.  London’s Independent on Sunday described Trpčeski’s interpretations as “subtle, clever, imaginative pianism of the very highest quality.”

Born in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpčeski has won prizes in international piano competitions in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Czech Republic.  From 2001 to 2003, he was a member of the BBC New Generation Scheme, and in May 2003, he was honored with the Young Artist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society.  Mr. Trpčeski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Professor Boris Romanov. In addition to his international engagements, he currently teaches as a faculty member at his alma mater. Simon Trpčeski makes him home in Skopje with his family.