Edward Auer is the first American prize-winner of the prestigious International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and the first prize-winner of the Concours Marguerite Long in Paris.

Piano: Edward Auer

Edward Auer has long been recognized as a leading interpreter of the works of Chopin. As the first American to win a prize in the prestigious International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, he has returned to Poland for well over 20 concert tours, playing in every major city and with every major orchestra. Auer has played solo recitals and concertos in over 30 countries on five continents, collaborating with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Charles Dutoit, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Comissiona and Riccardo Chailly.

Auer grew up in Los Angeles, where he studied piano with Aube Tzerko, a protégé of Artur Schnabel, and composition with Leonard Stein, a Schoenberg student. A precocious chamber musician and the son of an accomplished amateur violist, he was playing the Mozart piano quartets and the Schumann quintet with his father and his friends at the ripe old age of eight. He won several competitions in the Los Angeles area, and frequently appeared in concerts there, both as soloist and in chamber music.

Auer’s studies continued at the Juilliard School with Rosina Lhévinne and in Paris on a Fulbright Grant under Julius Katchen. Besides the Chopin Competition, Auer was a prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Beethoven competition in Vienna and the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, and took First Prize in the Concours Marguerite Long in Paris. Now, years later, these and other contests regularly invite him to be on their juries.

Auer is currently recording the major works of Chopin, in honor of Chopin’s Bicentennial year 2010. The first volume has just come out, and the second and third are on the way.

Edward Auer is on the Piano faculty at Indiana University Bloomington.

鋼琴：愛德華‧奧爾

愛德華‧奧爾長久以來被公認為最能夠演釋蕭邦作品的鋼琴家。他是史上首位華沙國際蕭邦鋼琴大賽的美籍得獎者。之後到波蘭，於當地每一個主要城市，跟每一個著名的管弘樂團合作超過二十場的巡迴演出。奧爾足跡遍佈世界五大洲，曾於超過三十個國家作鋼琴獨奏和鋼琴協奏的演出。期間曾與多位著名的指揮家合作，如梅達、杜托華、比奧斯達、哥美士安拿以及力卡度．沙爾等。

奧爾生於美國洛杉磯，他曾受多位著名音樂家指導，師承舒納堡門下的阿柏‧捷柯習鋼琴，及作曲家荀伯克的學生利安納‧史甸習作曲。奧爾天才橫溢，是一個早熟的室樂演奏者，而他的父親是一個技藝精湛的業餘中提琴手。他八歲已經跟朋友及父親一同演奏莫札特的鋼琴四重奏與及舒曼的鋼琴五重奏。奧爾早年已於洛杉磯的幾個音樂比賽中勝出，還定期於洛杉磯的音樂會中作獨奏和室樂演奏。

國際大賽屢獲殊榮，成就非凡

就讀於茱莉亞音樂學院期間，奧爾師承利雲尼‧露珊娜，並獲得富布賴特獎學金，到巴黎隨基循學習。屢獲殊榮的奧爾，除了奪得國際蕭邦鋼琴大賽的獎項外，同時亦是莫斯科柴可夫斯基大賽、維也納貝多芬大賽、比利時布魯塞爾的伊利沙伯女皇大賽的得獎者，更於巴黎贏得法國隆•提博大賽冠軍，成就非凡。現在，愛德華‧奧爾時常以評判的身份出席這幾個鋼琴大賽。

在錄音方面，2010年適逢蕭邦二百週年紀念，為了向一代經典鋼琴大師蕭邦致敬，奧爾近來積極錄製蕭邦的主要作品。這個蕭邦系列共分為三張專輯，第一張專輯已剛面世，而第二、第三張專輯亦在製作中。

在教育方面，奧爾現正於美國伯明頓印第安納大學的音樂系擔任教授。