In 2010 Martino Tirimo celebrated Chopin's 200th anniversary of birth with a series of 12 concerts, at Kings Place, devoted to the composer's entire works. The series was described by Artsdesk as 'a colossal feat'.
Born into a musical family in Cyprus, he was performing Concertos from age eight and when only twelve conducted seven performances of ‘La Traviata’ , with soloists from La Scala, Milan. Since winning the international piano competitions in Munich and Geneva, he has performed all over the world and with most top orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Symphony, Cleveland and numerous others under many of the great conductors such as Barbirolli, Boult, Masur, Kurt Sanderling, Marriner and Rattle.
He has made over 60 recordings for EMI, BMG, Warner and other companies including the complete works of Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Janacek, Schubert’ s 21 Sonatas and the Concertos of Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Tippett (with composer conducting). He won a Gold Disc for his Rachmaninov Concerto 2 and ‘Paganini’ Rhapsody, one of EMI’ s best-sellers, and at present is recording the complete works of Chopin at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
He is also active in chamber music, touring extensively with his Trio, the Rosamunde, and works with talented young pianists, twelve of them winning first prizes at international competitions. As conductor he worked closely with the Dresden Philharmonic and other major orchestras and his compositions include the film score for the ‘Odyssey’ . In 2011 he was awarded the Nemitsas Foundation Prize for excellence in the Arts and Sciences.
His repertoire embraces 80 Concertos and nearly the entire solo works of the great composers. A frequent performer at international festivals, in 2004 he performed at the Athens Festival during the Olympic period with the Vienna Philharmonic, at the Herodus Atticus amphitheatre, and prior to the Games had the honour to run with the Olympic torch, perhaps the first classical musician to do so.
The Daily Telegraph has also characterized him as ‘a pianist of vision’ and ‘an inspiring poet of the piano’. In 2013, after a performance of Beethoven’ s ‘Emperor’ Concerto at London’ s Barbican with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Musical Opinion described him as ‘a true giant of the keyboard’ whilst Music and Vision declared that 'Tirimo’ s playing belongs to a past generation of ‘greats’. Listening to him I conjure up aural images of Solomon, Arrau, Kempff, Schnabel and Rubinstein. Throughout the evening one was consistently aware that this supreme musician placed himself entirely at the service of the composer’ .
After the concert we offer an informal finger buffet reception with freshly made sandwiches, warm savouries and homemade cakes, accompanied by your choice of wine, tea, coffee or juice. Martino Tirimo with attend the reception. Tickets for this cost £7 or just £5 for students.
Getting there:
By tube/train: Victoria
By bus: any bus that goes to Victoria
By car: lots of free parking in surrounding streets and no congestion charge on Sundays.