Eric Himy
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Eric Himy is an American-born classical pianist of French-Spanish-Morrocan descent.
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[edit] Life
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Himy began piano studies at age six, giving his first concert at age 10. He was guest soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at age 15, and at 19 he made his National Symphony Orchestra debut under Hugh Wolf going on to win numerous competitions and awards including the Gold Medal at the 1988 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, the Kosciuszko Chopin Prize in New York, and top honors in the 1991 Milosz Magin International Competition in Paris.
[edit] Education
Studying both biochemistry and music at the University of Maryland with Thomas Schumacher (disciple of Robert Goldsand), Himy later received a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York working with Adele Marcus (disciple of Arthur Schnabel and Josef Lhevinne) and Josef Villa (disciple of Olga Barabini and Claudio Arrau). He has also given masterclasses at Princeton University, The University of Texas, The University of San Francisco, Portland State University, and The University of Utah, among others.
[edit] Piano playing
The New York Times described his playing as "flawlessly poised, elegant, and brilliant."
Praised for his formidable technique and many varied colors (His technique has been compared by the 2007 Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande to that of the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz and called him " a sensual gourmand of sound ") he has received critical acclaim for his interpretations of Transcriptions (including some of his own), French, Spanish and Romantic music. Himy has given recitals in the United States, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Italy, Monaco, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Slovenia. He has performed notably at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, The Frick Collection, The Phillips Collection, Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris and on NPR "Performance Today". In 2000, Himy gave an all-Ravel tribute re-creating historic performances given by Cortot and Gieseking. And in France the performance was compared to those of Argerich and François.
In 2003 Himy released an all-Ravel CD described by the BBC as one of the finest Ravel CDs ever made. He also recorded the Rhapsody in Blue in an all-Gershwin CD which features Gershwin transcriptions of his own and those of Earl Wild. His latest CDs (Mozart, Schumann [picked by BBC Magazine December 2007 issue as CD of the month]) were released in 2007 and Three CDs are planned for 2008 featuring all-Liszt, all-Debussy and some Chamber music of Debussy, Faure and Rachmaninov with members of the San Juan Symphony, Puerto Rico and Cellist Emilio Colon.
Eric Himy was featured on the cover of the 2006 May/June issue of Clavier and in the June 2007 of the UK Musical Opinion. For the ‘06-07, '07-08 season he performed more than 70 concerts worldwide.
[edit] Selected discography
- Eric Himy The Art of the Transcription for Piano (BNL, 1999)
- Eric Himy Plays Ravel (Ivory Classics, 2003)
- Gershwin, The Art of the Transcription (Centaur, 2004)
- Homage to Schumann 2006 (Centaur, 2006)
- Homage to Mozart 2006 (Centaur, 2006)
