Biography

Growing up with music

Conducting La Traviata

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Martino Tirimo was born into a musical family in Cyprus and began piano and violin lessons with his father, a conductor and violinist. He gave his first concert at the age of six and when only twelve he conducted seven performances of Verdi's La Traviata, including soloists from La Scala, Milan.

At the age of thirteen his family moved to London and he continued his education at Bedales School. At sixteen he won the Liszt Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with the highest honours, after which he completed his studies in Vienna. He later worked closely with Gordon Green, whom he regarded as his greatest mentor. In 1971 and 1972 victories in the International Piano Competitions in Munich and Geneva launched his international career.

International career

With Dresden Philharmonic

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He has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras, including all the major British orchestras and those in Berlin, Cleveland, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich, Prague, Vienna and other centres, with conductors including Barbirolli, Boult, Pritchard, Kurt Sanderling, Masur, Norrington and Rattle.

He has also directed from the keyboard several cycles of the five Beethoven Concertos with the Dresden Philharmonic, both in Germany and at the Royal Festival Hall in London. He has often appeared with this orchestra both as soloist and conductor.

“Tirimo's playing belongs to a past generation of 'greats'. Listening to him I conjure up aural images of Solomon, Arrau, Kempff, Serkin, Schnabel and Backhaus. Throughout the evening one was consistently aware that this supreme musician placed himself entirely at the service of the composer.”
Bill Newman, Music and Vision

He is also in demand for masterclasses all over the world and occasionally serves on juries of international piano competitions.

Repertoire and recordings

His repertoire is enormous, including 70 Concertos and most of the major solo works of the great composers, and he has become a champion of the Tippett Concerto which he performed several times with the composer conducting. Their recording of the work for Nimbus was released in 1991.

Among over 50 recordings are the two Chopin Concertos with the Philharmonia (BMG), the two Brahms Concertos with the London Philharmonic (EMI) and a CD of Rachmaninov's Concerto No.2 and Paganini Rhapsody with the Philharmonia, which became one of EMI's best sellers and for which he received a Gold Disc in 1994 (sales of this disc in the UK alone topped 200,000 in 1993). He has also recorded the complete piano music of Debussy (4 CDs) and Janacek (2 CDs).

In 2006 he recorded the complete piano works of Mozart, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, on 12 CDs. These are now available on Regis Records, both singly and in 2 boxed sets.

Cartoon of Tirimo and Schubert

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A passion for Schubert

Tirimo is particularly renowned for his Schubert interpretations and in 1975 became the first pianist to perform a truly complete cycle of the 21 Sonatas in public, with his own completions to the unfinished movements, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

His 1985 cycle at the Wigmore Hall was recorded by BBC Radio 3, and in 1996-97 he recorded the complete set for EMI, as well as editing the first complete edition, in three volumes, for Wiener Urtext Edition. The 8 CDs were released throughout 1997, the 200th anniversary of Schubert's birth, and in the same season he presented six concerts at the Wigmore Hall devoted to all of Schubert's major piano works.

With Sir Michael Tippett

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Television programmes

Among his TV appearances, memorable was his playing of the Tippett Concerto which was transmitted live from Coventry cathedral in celebration of the composer's 90th birthday. The performance was with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestras conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier.

A series of masterclasses were filmed at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1988) with Martino working with brilliant young musicians. The programmes were screened in several countries.

In 1998 he composed the film score for "The Odyssey", which was screened in eight episodes on Channel 4 and other TV stations in Europe.

Celebrating the millenium and beyond

Carrying the Olympic torch

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He celebrated the year 2000 by giving four series devoted to the 32 Piano Sonatas of Beethoven, including one in London at St John's, Smith Square.

In 2001 Tirimo gave two series of concerts devoted to the major piano works of Robert and Clara Schumann, and also began a complete cycle of performances and recordings of the Mozart Piano Concertos, directing from the piano the Prague Chamber Orchestra with whom he has a long-standing relationship.

In 2002 he performed a series of six concerts devoted to Chopin's major works and in the same year founded the Rosamunde Trio with which he has since toured extensively.

Highlights in 2004 included concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and at the Athens festival, during the Olympic period, he performed Beethoven Concerto No.4 with the Vienna Philharmonic.

2005 included performances of the Tippett Piano Concerto, including two in Stuttgart under Sir Roger Norrington, and in 2006 he celebrated Mozart's 250th birthday with several series of 8 concerts each devoted to the complete solo piano works, including one at London's Cadogan Hall. He also directed from the piano, in Mozart Concertos, both the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the Prague Chamber Orchestra.