Born in Brazil,
Nelson Freire began piano studies
at the age of three with Nise Obino and Lucia Branco, who had
worked with a pupil of Liszt. He made his first public appearance
at the age of five with Mozart Sonata in A K.331. In 1957, after
winning the Rio de Janeiro International Piano Competition with
his performance of Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto, he
went to Vienna to study with Bruno Seidlhofer, teacher of Friedrich
Gulda. Seven years later he won the Dinu Lipatti Medal in London
and the first prize at the International Vianna da Motta Competition
in Lisbon.
He is invited by prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic,
Munich Philharmonic, Bayerische Rundfunk, Concertgebouw Orchestra
of Amsterdam, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich,
Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, Israel Philharmonic,
Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de
Paris, Radio France Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande,
as well as American Orchestras of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago,
Cleveland, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia…
He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Pierre
Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Eugene
Jochum, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Rudolf Kempe (tours
in the United States and Germany with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra),
Vaclav Neumann, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, Gennady Rozhdestvensky,
David Zinman, Hugh Wolff…
He plays recitals in the most prestigious venues and series in
Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, Roma, Madrid, Munich, Lisboa,
Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Zurich. With Martha Argerich, he toured
Japan in 2003, Brazil and Argentina in 2004 and USA in 2005 (New
York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Québec).
In 2005/06 he had a great success at the BBC Proms in London and
played with the Tokyo NHK in Japan, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
and Riccardo Chailly in Leipzig and on the European tour, Orchestre
de la Suisse Romande, Danish Radio Orchestra, Orchestre National
de France and Kurt Masur, as well as recitals in Paris, Madrid,
Gstaad, Geneva and with Martha Argerich in Toulouse and Essen
(Klavierfestival Ruhr). In 2006/07, he is with the Orchestra della
Svizzera Italiana under Alain Lombard, BBC Symphony under Manfred
Honeck, Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur in Amsterdam,
Sao Paolo Orchestra in Brazil and on the tour in Europe (Austria,
Germany, France, Portugal and Spain). He is playing recitals in
Rio, Sao Paulo, London, Paris, Ferrara, Rotterdam, Amsterdam (with
Martha Argerich), Vienna, New York…
Future projects include
the Salzburg Festival with Ingo Metzmacher, USA tour with the
St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov, BBC Scottish
Symphony under Ilan Volkov, Orchestre de Paris under Jiri Belohlavek,
Beethoven cycle with the Orchestre National de France under Kurt
Masur, Lyon Orchestra under Jun Märkl in France, Germany
and Spain, Barcelona Symphony under Leopold Hager.
Nelson Freire has recorded for Sony/CBS, Teldec,
DGG, IPAM, and London labels. Philips released his most coveted
performances on their acclaimed series,
Great Pianists of
the 20th Century and his recording of Chopin’s 24 Préludes
on CBS received the "Prix Edison". As an exclusive DECCA
Artists, his recent recordings of Chopin, Schumann and Brahms
Concertos 1 and 2 with the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig under Riccardo
Chailly received the most prestigious prizes: Diapason d’Or
of the Year, Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros,
Choc du Monde de la Musique, 10 by Repertoire, Classica. To be
released:. Beethoven Sonatas. The portrait "Nelson FREIRE"
is available on Video Film (Brazil).
Nelson Freire was nominated "Soloist of
the Year 2002" by French
Victoires de la Musique
and received in January 2005 a special "Honours Award"
for his career. In 2006 his Chopin recording is nominated for
the best solo recording by
Grammy Awards.