Zimerman Krystian, *5 December 1956 Zabrze, Polish pianist. From the age of 5, he studied piano for two years with his father, Marian, then came under the pedagogical supervision of A. Jasiński: at the PSM in Zabrze (1963–71) and in Katowice – at PLM (1971–75) and PWSM (diploma obtained in 1977). He gave his first public performances in Łabędy, Gliwice (6 December 1962 and 8 March 1963) and on TVP in Katowice (October 1963), where he played two of his own compositions. In the first years of his studies, he won several piano competitions and then the first prize at the international L. van Beethoven competition in Hradec Králové (1973) and the S. Prokofiev competition in Katowice (1974). In 1975, he won the first prize at the 9th International F. Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw and awards for the best performance of mazurkas (Polish Radio award), polonaise (TiFC award), concerto (National Philharmonic award). Winning the competition opened the way to his global career. From then on, Zimerman started collaborating with a plethora of significant figures in the world of music, such as C. Abbado, V. Ashkenazy, D. Barenboim, C. Davis, Ch. Dutoit, C.M. Giulini, B. Haitink, E. Leinsdorf, L. Maazel, Z. Mehta, R. Muti, S. Ozawa, S. Rattle, E.P. Salonen, W. Sawallisch, G. Sinopoli, S. Skrowaczewski. In 1976–90, he collaborated with L. Bernstein (over 20 concerts in the United States and Europe, album recordings), and from 1980 with H. von Karajan (performances and albums with recordings of piano concertos by E. Grieg and R. Schumann with the Berliner Philharmoniker, 1981). From 1976, he performed, among others, with Concertgebouworkest, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orch., Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Orchester de Paris, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1978–2010, he played more than 50 concerts and recitals in New York (Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall), London (Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Center) and Tokyo, where he presented 29 recital programs. In one hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, he presented 20 different programs.
From the beginning of his concert activity, Zimerman included works by Polish composers in his repertoire – apart from works by F. Chopin, also by G. Bacewicz and K. Szymanowski. In 1988, he premiered W. Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto dedicated to him with the ORF-Symphonieorchester Wien under the composer’s baton at the Salzburg Festival (19 August) and the first Polish performance of this work at the final concert of the Warsaw Autumn festival (25 September). For their outstanding interpretation of the Concerto, Lutosławski and Zimerman were awarded the SPAM Orfeusz award. In the fall of 1998, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death, Zimerman established and led a 64-piece orchestra, selected from a group of 470 young Polish performers, later known as Polish Festival Orchestra, with which he recorded both piano concertos and went on a world tour (15 August–25 November 1999), presenting both works at 39 concerts in Poland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. On the 100th anniversary of G. Bacewicz’s birth, in February 2009, Zimerman, together with outstanding Polish soloists, carried out an original project of presenting in 5 Polish cities and recording several of her works on CD (2 piano quintets and Piano Sonata No. 2, which Zimerman has been playing since the beginning of his career). He then performed this program with the Hagen Quartet during many concerts in Europe and Asia. In the Chopin Year 2010, he presented, among others, two Chopin’s piano sonatas in the most important capitals of Europe and Asia during 43 recitals, including on 22 February at the Royal Festival Hall in London and 1 March at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Zimerman considers his most important achievement to be the fact that over 25 years his audience has become familiar with Szymanowski’s piano works. Initially, he devoted most of his recital programs to it, and then it began to include concerts composed of works by other composers. In 2009, he gave several dozen recitals around the world, ending them with Variations on a Polish Folk Theme Op. 10.
Since 1976, Zimerman has been bound by an exclusive contract with the DG label. He recorded many albums, for which he received several prestigious awards, including the Edison Award eight times: in 1993 for Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer (1989), Diapason d’Or in 2000 for Chopin’s concertos with the Polish Festival Orchestra (1999), Gramophone Award – in 1981 for Piano Sonata No. 1 and No. 2 and 4 ballades Op. 10 by Brahms (1979–80), in 1990 for violin sonatas by O. Respighi and R. Strauss with K.-W. Chung (1988) and in 1994 for Debussy’s Preludes (1991), Midem Classical Award in 2006 for B. Bartók’s Concerto No. 1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by P. Boulez (2001), Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque – in 1991 for Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 and No. 4 with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by L. Bernstein (1989) and in 1992 for the Sonata in B minor and other works by Liszt (1990), Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik – in 1992 for the above-mentioned CD with solo works by Liszt and in 1999 for Ravel’s Concerto in D major for the left hand with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by P. Boulez (1996). Among numerous awards, distinctions and honorary titles he received, there is the title of musician of the year of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena (1985), the award of the L. Sonning Foundation in Copenhagen (1994), and the award of L. Bernstein “Una vita per la musica” (1994). In 2005, he was awarded the order of the French Legion of Honour, and in the same year he received an honorary doctorate from the K. Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice.
Zimerman is an outstanding individual in contemporary pianism. When studying a work, he always has source editions and manuscripts at his disposal. He has a thorough knowledge of instrument construction, which is one of the foundations of his career. He has been giving concerts on his own pianos since 1989 and has selected instruments to suit the repertoire and the specific acoustics of concert halls since the 1990s. He performs no more than 50 concerts a year (recitals, chamber concerts, concerts with an orchestra), presenting works by various artists. From the beginning of his career, he devoted a lot of time to chamber music. He collaborated with several dozen musicians, including K. Danczowska (for over 30 years), K.-W. Chung, and G. Kremer.
Zimerman has been involved in pedagogy since the late 1970s. He institutionalised this activity in 1996–2004, teaching a piano class at the music academy in Basel, where he worked on his piano teaching system. Already in the 1970s, he began his own conducting studies, and for this purpose, he contacted, among others, J. Maksymiuk, L. Bernstein, H. von Karajan, R. Barszaj, K. Kondraszyn, and P. Boulez. Since 1977, Zimerman has donated every fee for concerts in Poland to charity. Since 1985, he has been awarding prizes at the Chopin Competitions in Warsaw for the best performance of the sonata. On 14 May 1989, he played all of Beethoven’s piano concertos during one evening with a student orchestra as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of his alma mater, the Academy of Music in Katowice.
Zimerman believes that due to Poland’s difficult history, the role of an artist often went beyond the scope of this profession. He never tried to forget about his social obligations. He expressed his reactions to events like apartheid in South Africa, martial law in Poland (when he protested against the position of the former USSR), shots fired on the Berlin Wall in the GDR in the 1980s, events in Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, and the Katyn case. Each time his political manifestation was adapted to the nature of the situation and resulted from an internal need, for which he often paid a high price. He was fully aware that he was ready to sacrifice part of his career in return. His open, public protests in Japan and the United States against the war in Iraq were loudly echoed. On 26 April 2009 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Zimerman supported the opinion of the majority of the American public regarding the military attitude of the United States during the presidency of G.W. Bush. To comments that an artist should not interfere in political matters, Zimerman always responds that he is protesting not as an artist, but as a person.
