Biography of Alan Gampel, virtuoso pianist.

Born into an artistic family that includes the legendary harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, Alan Gampel made his debut playing Beethoven variations at age 7 at the Hollywood Bowl. He was honored with The Special Award in the Arts from UNICEF at age 8 and with the Presidential Scholars Award, presented by President Ronald Reagan at the White House, at age 16. He went on to graduate from Stanford University at age 19 and then completed a graduate degree at the University of Southern California and at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.

In 1995, Alan Gampel received the coveted Chopin Prize at the Artur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Israel. Other awards include a top prize at the Naumburg International Piano Competition in New York and the Mozart Bicentenary Prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition in Ireland.

Auditions for eminent musicians including Sir Georg Solti, Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Daniel Barenboim led to engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble Orchestrale de Paris, Irish National Symphony... Alan Gampel has appeared in recital at the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers, at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, in New York’s Frick Collection Series and Mostly Mozart Festival, in London at Wigmore Hall, in Paris at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Auditorium du Louvre, in Rome at the Teatro Ghione…

The birth of Alan’s first child inspired him to search for innovative ways to introduce music and the arts to young people. In 2000, he created the Joy2Learn Foundation, bringing great artists such as Gregory Hines, Wynton Marsalis and Richard Serra into classrooms across America over the Internet. Also, Alan Gampel has performed over 300 informal school recitals over the past ten years, for children in France and the USA.

Alan Gampel’s recordings include a collection of Beethoven Sonatas, a compilation of works by Chopin including the “La cidarem la mano” variations, the monumental B minor sonatas by Liszt and Chopin, and a « russian » recording featuring Mussorgsky Pictures, Prokofiev’s 7th sonata and Stravinsky’s Firebird.

Virtuoso pianist: ALAN GAMPEL