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Peter Donohoe

Peter Donohoe - Click for larger picturePeter Donohoe was born in Manchester in 1953 and studied at the Royal Northern College with Derek Wyndham and then in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. Since his unprecedented success at the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow he has developed a distinguished career in Europe, The USA, the Far East and Australasia.

In recent seasons he has appeared with the five London orchestras, regional UK orchestras, including the CBSO, RPO SCO and the RSNO, and across Europe with orchestras in Germany, France, Austria and Czechoslovakia. He has performed annually at the BBC Proms since 1979 and at major festivals including six consecutive visits to the Edinburgh Festival. He has also played at many prestigious Festivals in Europe.

Peter also performs regularly in Australia, New Zealand and the Far East and he makes frequent visits to the United States. 

Peter has made many fine recordings on EMI Records and has won awards for his recording the Liszt Sonata in B minor and for the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no. 2. Peter joined forces with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle for the three Bartok Piano Concerti, about which Michael Kennedy in the Gramophone Magazine wrote “ this is a marvellous trio of performances and serves as a fresh reminder of just how great these works are”. Recent releases include Beethoven Diabelli Variations and Sonata Opus 101m, and the complete Rachmaninov Preludes. His first recording for Chandos Records of the complete repertoire by Messiaen for piano and wind instruments, with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw has received widespread acclaim. His record recording for Hyperion of Litolff’s Concerti Symphoniques Numbers 2 and 4 has become a best-seller as has the Naxo recording with the Maggini String Quartet of Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor.


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