Emanuel Ax's distinguished career has encompassed many performances with the world's leading orchestras, countless recitals and a catalogue of highly successful recordings.
Born in Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at the Juilliard School were supported by the sponsorship of the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America, and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. He also attended Columbia University, where he majored in French.
Mr. Ax captured public attention in 1974, when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975, he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists followed four years later by the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In addition to his solo appearances, he is a devoted chamber musician. Mr. Ax has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, whose recordings have won several Grammy Awards.
In recognition of the bicentenaries of Chopin and Schumann in 2010 and in partnership with London's Barbican, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Ax has commissioned new works from Thomas Adés, Peter Lieberson and Stephen Prutsman for three recital programs presented in each of those cities with colleagues Yo-Yo Ma and Dawn Upshaw.
In recent years he has turned his attention toward 20th-century music, performing many premieres of contemporary works.
He will surely be remembered from his previous appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.