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Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable young musicians to have emerged in recent years, performing with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and captivating audiences worldwide. Mr. Trpčeski is praised not only for his impeccable technique and delicate expression, but also for his warm personality and commitment to strengthening Macedonia’s cultural image. The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini praises Trpčeski’s dazzling musicianship, saying "He tore through the double-octave outbursts with arm-blurring speed and no sense of strain. Yet in tenderly lyrical moments he caressed the phrases, playing with naturalness, never milking anything." Mr. Trpčeski has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras. He is a frequent soloist with the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia and Halle Orchestras and the London Philharmonic. Other engagements with major European ensembles include the Royal Concertgebouw, Russian National and Bolshoi Theatre Orchestras, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Royal Stockholm, Royal Flanders and St. Petersburg Philharmonics.

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Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, performing with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and captivating audiences worldwide. Mr. Trpčeski is praised not only for his impeccable technique and delicate expression, but also for his warm personality and commitment to strengthening Macedonia’s cultural image.

Mr. Trpčeski has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras. He is a frequent soloist with the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia and Halle Orchestras and the London Philharmonic.  Other engagements with major European ensembles include the Royal Concertgebouw, Russian National and Bolshoi Theatre Orchestras, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Royal Stockholm, Royal Flanders and St. Petersburg Philharmonics. In North America, he has performed with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, The Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto and Baltimore, among others. Elsewhere he has performed with the New Japan, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonic, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and has toured with the New Zealand Symphony. Mr. Trpčeski has worked with a prominent list of conductors, including Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lionel Bringuier, Andrew Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorin Maazel, Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier, David Zinman and Gianandrea Noseda. 

In 2012-2013 season Mr. Trpceski continues to perform with some of the most prestigious orchestras around the world, playing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto under Robin Ticciati with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with the Minnesota Orchestra under Andrew Litton and Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda. Mr. Trpceski also performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Hallé Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. At the beginning of 2013 Mr. Trpceski performed Chopin’s E Minor concerto with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as well as the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Sinfónica do Porto. Mr. Trpceski appears in recital at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, as well as in Berkeley, Vancouver and the UK.

March 2010 saw Mr. Trpčeski’s concerto recording debut on the Avie label, showcasing Rachmaninov’s notoriously challenging Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The album was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’année and Classic FM’s “Editor’s Choice”. In June 2011, the Avie label released the second concerto album from Trpčeski, Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; the completion of Rachmaninov piano concerti, Nos. 1 and 4 alongside Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The second disc has been recognized with Classic FM, Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and Diapason d’Or distinctions.

A superb recitalist, Simon Trpčeski has given solo performances in such cultural capitals as New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Bilbao, Dublin and Tokyo. Simon has received widespread acclaim for his recital recordings on the EMI label.  His first recording, released in 2002, featured works by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and received both the “Editor’s Choice” and “Debut Album” awards at the Gramophone Awards. His 2005 Rachmaninoff and 2007 Chopin discs both received extensive praise from critics. In 2008, he released an all-Debussy disc entitled Debussy: Images, which was equally applauded. 

Simon also performs chamber music as often as he can, having performed at such festivals as Aspen, Verbier and Risor, and in Summer 2011, Simon Trpčeski and cellist Nina Kotova preformed works by Chopin for a theatrical event based on the life of Frédéric Chopin featuring renowned actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy. With the special support of KulturOp—Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization—and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists.

Born in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpčeski has won prizes in international piano competitions in the United Kingdom, Italy and the Czech Republic.  From 2001 to 2003, he was a member of the BBC New Generation Scheme, and in May 2003, he was honored with the Young Artist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society.  In December 2009, the President of Macedonia H.E. Gjorge Ivanov honored him with the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia, a decoration given to foreign and domestic dignitaries responsible for the affirmation of Macedonia abroad and most recently in September 2011 Mr. Trpčeski was awarded the first-ever title "National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia".

Mr. Trpčeski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Professor Boris Romanov. In addition to his international engagements, he currently teaches as a faculty member at his alma mater. Simon Trpčeski makes his home in Skopje with his family.

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Reviews

"Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski, in a welcome return to the BSO, tackled the work with tireless bravura and keen musicality."

Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun

"The young Macedonian pianist was all grace and eloquence. He found the natural inner flow of the Grieg, its stream of melody. His tone has an understated beauty."

Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times

"Playing Rachmaninoff's widely beloved Piano Concerto No. 2, the artist fully lived up to the high expectations set by his Cleveland Orchestra debut at Blossom Music Center in 2009. As at Blossom, the pianist at Severance proved an artist of unique but highly alluring character. His performance stripped away much of the well-known work's typical gloss and thickness and instead cast it in a refreshingly bright, clear light. Yet it didn't lack feeling. Trpceski's account of the Adagio with clarinetist Daniel McKelway was spellbinding in the utmost, and where the composer waxes rhapsodic, the pianist poured forth impassioned streams."

Zachary Lewis, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Electrifying virtuosity, but no whiff of show-off. The most delicate feelings, yet nothing precious or lacy. Head plus heart, lots of heart."

Geoff Brown, The London Times

"Trpčeski is honest, direct and fully committed to every note, bringing a sharp clarity to his performance. He can dance and dream, cry and console to the demands of the music with subtlety and style."

Jane Jones, Classic FM

"There’s a grand romanticism about Trpčeski’s interpretations, as well as an attention to detail in which he picks out powerful bass lines and unusual inner voices or chooses unexpected yet convincing rubatos. His phrasing of the songful trio embedded in the manic second movement is simply magical. There’s also something ideal in the intimacy of Trpčeski’s identification with the music and the beauty he finds in the breadth of contrast between nightmare and reverie."

Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine

"He is a distinctly modern artist, playing with illuminating clarity, high intelligence, complete technical assurance, and textural accuracy. Listening to this Chopin program, one has an illusion of musical architecture floating in space. This is a pianist who always has clever ideas about music; nothing seems wayward, routine or arbitrary. His sense of structure is impeccable; everything sounds logical, inevitable and supremely musical.”"

Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide

"Simon Trpčeski’s luminous sound and technical ease make this recital of Debussy piano favourites positively irresistible. This is subtle, clever, imaginative pianism of the very highest quality."

Anna Picard, The Independent

"Trpceski shimmered over the keys, his nimble articulation lightening and illuminating hackneyed passage-work until phrases began to sing with fantasy once more."

Edward Seckerson, The Independent

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Discography