David Greilsammer

Last October, The Sunday Times opened its music review by affirming that David Greilsammer’s recital at the Wigmore Hall in London was “among the most authoritative British debuts in years”. Also praised by the New York Times following his first concert at New York’s Lincoln Center, David Greilsammer is now regularly invited to perform in the major concert halls worldwide and under the leading conductors of our time. His debut recording of Mozart’s early piano concertos as pianist and conductor for the American label Vanguard Classics was awarded by the Daily Telegraph as one of the CDs of the Year in 2006 and described by Le Monde as “one of the greatest surprises of this Mozart year”. This outstanding success was immediately followed by an exclusive contract with French label Naïve, and a new solo recording released in 2007. The newly released CD, in which David Greilsammer explores fantasy through the work of eight different composers, was recently praised by The Sunday Times, The Independent, and the Daily Telegraph, in addition to being awarded the recording-prizes of both the Pianiste and Le Monde de la Musique magazines in Paris. This coming summer, David Greilsammer will perform the Complete Mozart Piano Sonatas at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, in a series of six concerts. Other highlights in 2007-2008 include recitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Paris, Tel-Aviv, Yokohama, Saitama, at the Toulouse Piano aux Jacobins Festival, the Rouen Opera House, performances of Mozart and Saint-Saëns Concertos in the US as well as chamber music concerts in Saarbrücken and Aix-en-Provence. In November, David Greilsammer returns to Japan to conduct the Kanagawa Philharmonic. David Greilsammer’s recent engagements include concerts at the Minatomirai Hall in Japan, the Theâtre Mogador in Paris, New York’s Alice Tully Hall under conductor James Conlon, the Escorial in Madrid, the Verdi Opera House in Trieste, the Bologna Festival, the Ateneo Veneto in Venice, the Julita Festival in Sweden, and performing as pianist and conductor with the Taipei Philharmonic. Other recent appearances include recitals in Montpellier, Mexico-City, Port-of-Spain, an extensive tour with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, and concerts with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony, the Minsk Symphony, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, as well as with the Cuba National Symphony in Havana. Hailed by critics and audiences as an artist of audacious imagination, David Greilsammer is a passionate advocate of innovation and creativity. His strong interest in non-standard repertoires has brought him to performing a wide range of fascinating and intriguing recital programs. In 2004, David Greilsammer gave the American Premiere of Erwin Schulhoff’s Piano Concerto; Schulhoff’s astonishing work had been tragically neglected since the composer’s death in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. In 2007, David Greilsammer recorded for the German Radio Alexandre Tansman’s rarely-heard Second Piano Concerto. This season, David Greilsammer performs in Israel a ground-breaking recital program mixing John Cage’s Sonatas for the “prepared piano” with Scarlatti’s Sonatas for keyboard. Born in Jerusalem in 1977, David Greilsammer started his piano studies at the Rubin Conservatory in his native city. After studying in Florence and Paris, he came back to Israel to study with Yahli Wagman and Shoshana Cohen. After completing his military service in Israel, David Greilsammer entered The Juilliard School in New York as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. Following studies in piano and conducting at Juilliard, he went on to work with Richard Goode. David Greilsammer’s concerts and recordings have been broadcast by numerous radio and television networks worldwide. In addition, the TF1 Television Network has recently produced and broadcast a special documentary film on David Greilsammer, with the participation of distinguished artists such as conductor James Conlon. David Greilsammer is the recipient of the Sagem Foundation award and the Tabor Foundation grant.