“The Steinway is the only piano that can make a great piece of music come to life. It has no equals. From the lightness of a Scarlatti Sonata to the intensity of a Rachmaninoff Concerto the Steinway is the most reliable friend a pianist can have.”
Antonio Iturrioz
Concert Pianist, Steinway Artist and Documentarian Antonio Iturrioz, born in Cuba, came to the United States when he was 7 years old. Giving his first concert at 9, he played the Liszt First Piano Concerto for his orchestral debut at 15. His teachers have included his father, Pablo Iturrioz, Francisco De Hoyos, a pupil of Gyorgi Sandor; Bernardo Segall, who studied with the Liszt pupil Alexander Siloti; Aube Tzerko, and Julian White. He has taken master classes from Byron Janis, Alexis Weissenberg, Jorge Bolet, and Andre Watts.
While recovering from an injury to his right hand, Iturrioz learned important and obscure works for the left hand, including the complete Godowsky arrangements and original compositions. This led to his first film, the unique documentary The Art of the Left Hand: A Brief History of Left Hand Piano Music, called “an important film” by Clavier magazine. His second, The Buddha of the Piano: Leopold Godowsky, the only film about Godowsky, has been shown at international piano festivals, colleges in the U.S., and the Edinburgh Society of Musicians. Highly praised by Marc-Andre Hamelin, Carlo Grante, and many others, Dr. Ronald Stevenson said, “It is an important film for all pianists and pianophiles.... You reveal with skill, clarity and sensitivity the intricacies of his polyphonic piano writing.” The film, translated into Italian and French, will soon be translated into Polish. Both films have been featured on national public television. Iturrioz in 2013 gave the world premier performance on one piano of L.M. Gottschalk’s complete two-movement symphony, La Nuit des Tropiques, having transcribed for the first time the second movement, “Fiesta Criolla,” for one piano.
The Steinway & Sons label released Gottschalk and Cuba in September 2018. On the album is the world premiere recording of this historic work. Andre Watts has called Gottschalk and Cuba an “extraordinary album of music!”
For more information please visit:
www.gottschalkandcuba.com
www.newinternationalgodowskysociety.com