Martha Argerich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Martha Argerich
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Argerich in 2015
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| Background information | |
| Born | 5 June 1941 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Labels |
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Martha Argerich (born 5 June 1941) is a famous classical pianist from Argentina and Switzerland. Many people think she is one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Martha was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She played her first concert when she was only eight years old. After that, she continued her piano training in Europe. When she was young, she won many important music contests. Since then, she has made many recordings and played with famous orchestras all over the world.
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Early Life and Learning
Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires. Her family on her father's side came from Spain. Her grandparents on her mother's side were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. They settled in a special farming community in Argentina.
Martha was a very talented child from a young age. She started kindergarten when she was just two and a half years old. One day, a friend teased her, saying she couldn't play the piano. Martha surprised everyone by playing a song perfectly by ear, just after her teacher played it. Her teacher was amazed and called her mother right away.
Martha started learning piano at age three. When she was five, she began studying with a teacher named Vincenzo Scaramuzza. He taught her how important it was to play with feeling and expression. Martha played her first public concert in 1949 when she was eight.
In 1955, her family moved to Europe. There, Martha studied with Friedrich Gulda in Austria, who she says was a big influence on her. She also learned from other great teachers like Stefan Askenase and Maria Curcio. In 1957, when she was sixteen, she won two big music competitions within three weeks: the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.
After these successes, Martha went through a difficult time. She stopped playing the piano for three years. She even thought about becoming a secretary or a doctor instead. But her teacher's wife, Anny Askenase, encouraged her to start playing again.
Amazing Career
Martha Argerich played her first big concert at age eight. She performed pieces by famous composers like Mozart and Beethoven. She became known around the world when she won the VII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965. She was 24 years old then. That same year, she played her first concert in the United States.
In 1960, she made her first professional recording. It included music by Chopin, Brahms, and Liszt. This recording was highly praised when it came out in 1961. Since then, she has recorded many more works by composers like Rachmaninoff and Schumann. She feels a special connection to Schumann's music.
Martha has often said in interviews that she feels "lonely" when she plays solo concerts. Because of this, since the 1980s, she has played fewer solo shows. Instead, she focuses on playing with orchestras (called concertos) and playing chamber music with other musicians.
Martha also helps young pianists. She does this through her yearly music festival and by being a judge at international competitions. For example, she helped the pianist Ivo Pogorelić become famous. In 1980, when he was eliminated from the Chopin Piano Competition, Martha said he was a genius and left the jury in protest. She has supported many other young artists as well.
Martha Argerich is the president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como. She also performs every year at the Lugano Festival. Since 1996, she has also been the General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan.
She doesn't like a lot of attention from the media. Even so, she is known as one of the greatest pianists in history. In 2016, she played Liszt's First Piano Concerto at a famous concert series called The Proms. She was 75 years old, but a newspaper review said her playing was "dazzling" and "frighteningly precise." She returned to The Proms in 2019 at age 78, playing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. Her performance was described as "mesmerizing."
Personal Life
Martha Argerich has been married twice. Her first marriage was to composer and conductor Robert Chen. They had a daughter named Lyda, who is a violinist. Her second marriage was to Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit. They had a daughter named Annie. Even after they separated, Martha and Charles continued to work together on music.
Later, Martha had a relationship with American pianist Stephen Kovacevich. They had a third daughter named Stéphanie. Martha and Stephen still often perform together. Stéphanie made a film about her mother called Bloody Daughter. In the film, Stéphanie explains that her parents were not married. They flipped a coin to decide who would name her, and Martha won.
Martha raised her children in a relaxed way. She preferred them to learn at home instead of going to school. She also often had young musicians stay at her house, and she would practice piano through the night.
Martha can speak many languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, German, English, and Portuguese. Even though Spanish is her first language, she raised her children speaking French. She has lived in different countries like Argentina, Belgium, Switzerland, and France. She is a citizen of both Switzerland and Argentina.
Martha has never been involved with any political party. However, she has said she is strongly against the death penalty. She also admired a French politician who helped end the death penalty in France. Her friend, pianist Daniel Barenboim, once contacted the president of Argentina to ask him to accept Syrian refugees. He did this on behalf of Martha as well.
In 1990, Martha was diagnosed with a type of skin cancer called melanoma. After treatment, the cancer went away. But it came back in 1995 and spread to other parts of her body. She received a special experimental treatment, and the cancer went away again. To show her thanks, Martha performed a concert to raise money for the institute that treated her. As of 2023, Martha remains cancer-free. In August 2023, she had to cancel some concerts because of an illness, but the details were not shared.
Documentaries
In 2002, a film director named Georges Gachot made a documentary about Martha Argerich called Martha Argerich: Evening Talks. Later, in 2012, Martha's daughter Stéphanie Argerich Blagojevic directed her own documentary about her mother. It was called Bloody Daughter and used film Stéphanie had shot since she was a child.
Awards and Honors
Martha Argerich has won many important awards throughout her career:
- Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition: 1st prize (1957)
- Geneva International Music Competition: 1st prize (1957)
- VII International Chopin Piano Competition: 1st prize (1965)
- Claudio Arrau Memorial Medal (1997)
- Diamond Konex Award (1999) - recognized as the most important classical musician in Argentina for that decade.
- Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) (2000) for works by Prokofiev and Bartók.
- Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance (2005) for works by Prokofiev and Ravel, with Mikhail Pletnev.
- Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette (2005) from Japan.
- Praemium Imperiale (2005) from Japan.
- Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) (2006) for Beethoven's Piano Concertos, with Claudio Abbado.
- Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame (2012).
- Recipient of The Kennedy Center Honors (2016) in the United States.
- Recipient of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2018).
- Recipient of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (2023) from France.
See also
In Spanish: Martha Argerich para niños
- Great Pianists of the 20th Century – Martha Argerich
- Great Pianists of the 20th Century – Martha Argerich II
- List of Argentines
