Beethoven, Mozart, and many other male pianists are household names all over the world. However, some incredible female pianists have not received recognition as much as their male peers.
Times have changed drastically since the 18th Century, and we have the privilege of hearing some of the greatest female pianists today. Although there are many incredible female pianists, we made a list of some female pianists we love in honor of March being Women’s History Month. Here are 3 incredible female pianists today:
Martha Argerich
The first female pianist that we’ll talk about is Martha Argerich. She is probably one of the most well-known female piano players of today! She was born in 1941 in Argentina, and she started performing professionally at the age of eight. Martha Argerich won many esteemed honors and prizes throughout her life. In 1957, Martha won the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition and the Geneva International Music Competition. And in 1965, Martha won the Chopin Piano Competition.
Martha won three Grammy Awards during her career – in 1999, 2004, and 2005. In 2005, Japan formally honored Martha’s talent by awarding her with the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for music. Not only that, but the Japanese government bestowed her with an Order of the Rising Sun. There is an annual piano competition held in Martha Argerich’s name in Buenos Aires since 1999. She began directing a music festival in her name after 2001, also held in Buenos Aires.
At 78 years old now, Martha continues to mesmerize people from around to attend her sold-out concerts.
Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang is a Chinese Classical pianist, born in 1987 in Beijing. At the tender age of six, she began studying the piano and received advanced musical training in Canada and America. She studied under Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Probably the most impressive skill that Yuji Wang has is her ability to play extremely fast. Not only can Yuji play complex musical pieces at a fast speed, but she does so gracefully and without a mistake. This talent has awarded Ms. Wang the nickname of “flying fingers.”
Wang’s international fame came when she was only 20 years old, in 2007. The famous Martha Argerich was supposed to perform alongside the Boston Symphony Orchestra in America. Unfortunately, she was suffering from physical exhaustion, and her doctor ordered to cancel the performance. Yuja Wang replaced Ms. Argerich and delivered a spectacular interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
Just two years after this performance, Ms. Wang signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophone. Today, Yuji Wang’s name is permanently among the world’s leading pianists.
Valentina Lisitsa
At just the age of three, Valentin Lisita began learning the piano. Valentina was born in Keiv, Ukraine, and she graduated from Keiv Conservatory. Not long after, she moved to the United States and giving her debut performance in New York in 1995. Today, Valentina travels between Moscow and Rome.
In 2007, Valentina posted her first YouTube video to the internet, playing Etude op. 39/6 by Sergei Rachmaninoff. As she made more videos, the more views she acquired. With the unbelievable foundation of her social-network career, classical music welcomed their first YouTube pianist. Thanks to her dedication and a large following on social media, her YouTube channels have over 550,000 subscribers and an average of 75,00 views per day. Not only does Valentina have an incredible YouTube career, but she also has a global concert career all over Europe, the USA, South America, and Asia.
💡Read our blog on Famous Piano Players – Male Pop Star Edition.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed reading about these 3 incredible female pianists today! Do you have a favorite female pianist?
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