David Greilsammer

Greilsammer amazed the public and press when performing the complete Mozart Sonatas in a oneday

marathon in Paris, shortly after which he performed Mozart’s eighteen Sonatas again, in a series

of six concerts at the 2008 Verbier Festival. David Greilsammer has fast gained international attention

since making his New York debut in 2004 at Lincoln Centre under conductor James Conlon, giving

the American Premiere of Erwin Schulhoff’s Piano Concerto; Schulhoff’s astonishing work had been

tragically neglected since the composer’s death in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. Praised by the

New York Times for this bold and unique performance, David Greilsammer is now regularly invited

to perform in the major concert halls worldwide under the leading conductors of our time. As winner

of the ‘Young Musician of the Year’ at the 2008 French Music Awards, David Greilsammer recently

performed live on TV to an audience of two million viewers.

In 2006, Greilsammer’s debut recording of Mozart’s early piano concertos, played and conducted

from the keyboard for Vanguard Classics, was awarded by the Daily Telegraph as one of the

“Records of the Year” and described by Le Monde as “one of the greatest surprises of the Mozart

year”. This success was immediately followed by an exclusive contract with Naïve Records and a

newly released solo CD, “fantaisie_fantasme” which has been selected by The Sunday Times as one

of the “2007 Records of the Year” in addition to being awarded the recording prizes of the magazines

Le Monde de la Musique and Pianiste.

Recent highlights include recitals in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Madrid, Lisbon, Tel-

Aviv, Yokohama, Saitama, Mexico-City, Paris, Toulouse, Montpellier, Venice, and Bologna. Other

recent engagements include concerts at the Minatomirai Hall in Japan, Verdi Opera House in Trieste,

Rouen Opera House, Julita Festival in Sweden, and concerts with the Orquestra Metropolitana in

Portugal, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse in France, the Kanagawa Philharmonic in Japan as

pianist and conductor, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel

Chamber Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony, The Princeton Symphony, the Minsk Symphony, the NWD

Philharmonie, the Cuba National Symphony, and with the Taipei Philharmonic as pianist and

conductor.

During the 2008-2009 season, David Greilsammer performs a ground-breaking recital programme

mixing John Cage’s Sonatas for the “prepared piano” with Scarlatti’s Sonatas for keyboard, and he

also continues to tour with the program of his most recent recording in which he explores the idea of

fantasy through the works of eight different composers. Other highlights will see him play and

conduct at the 92nd Street Y in New York featuring the world premiere of Jonathan Keren’s Triple

Concerto for piano, clarinet, and narrator, play and conduct a concert dedicated to Mozart’s early

masterpieces at Victoria Hall in Geneva, and perform solo recitals at the Sage Gateshead in the UK,

in Bergamo, Paris, Lyon, Lille, and New York.

Born in Jerusalem in 1977, David Greilsammer started his piano studies at the Rubin Conservatory in

his native city. After studying in Florence and Paris, he came back to Israel to study with Yahli

Wagman and Shoshana Cohen. After completing his military service in Israel, David Greilsammer

entered The Juilliard School in New York as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. Following studies in

piano and conducting at Juilliard, he went on to work with Richard Goode.

David Greilsammer is the recipient of the Tabor Foundation grant and the Sagem Foundation award.