BORIS BLOCH (Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen)
13 October @15.00-19.00 in C-405

Boris Bloch, born 1951 in Odessa, studied among others with Dimitri Bashkirov. After studying in Moscow, Bloch was winner of international piano competitions, among others he won first prize at the 1976 Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York, silver medal at the 1977 Artur Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv and first prize at the 1978 International Piano Competition “Ferruccio Busoni” in Bolzano. He has made numerous appearances, among others at the Klavier Festival Ruhr, Chopin Festival, Carinthian Summer in Ossiach, Mozart Festival in Salsomaggiore Terme, Festival Rarities of Piano Music at Husum, Varna Summer Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, first Busoni-Piano Festival, Bolzano, in Santander and the European Liszt Night in Weimar.

From Bloch there are several CD recordings having reference character, in particular his recordings of Liszt’s opera paraphrases, which were awarded the Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt, as well as recordings of Mussorgsky’s piano works, which received the Excellence Disque prize.

Since 1985 Boris Bloch is professor of piano at the Folkwang Conservatory in Essen. He is a regular juror at important piano competitions and in 2006 was artistic director of the 1st International Carl Bechstein Piano Competition.