Peter Frankl, piano (London, England and Budapest, Hungary), made his name on the international circuit as a young pianist in the 1960s. Following his London debut in 1962 and his New York debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell in 1967, he has been performing with orchestras all over the world, such as Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra and many more. He has appeared with conductors like Abbado, Barbirolli, Blomstedt, Boulez, Chailly, Davis, Dorati, Fischer, Haitink, Maazel, Muti, Solti and many others.
His many tours have taken him to Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, playing with orchestras, in recitals and chamber music concerts. He has appeared over twenty times at London’s BBC Promenade Concerts and has been a frequent participant at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Verbier, Naantali and Casals Festivals in Europe. Among the highlights of his Edinburgh Festival appearances were his performance of the Britten Concerto under the baton of the composer and an opening televised concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Muti. Another special occasion was when he performed at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest with Yehudi Menuhin conducting the Budapest Festival Orchestra at one of his very last concerts.
In the USA, Peter has been regular guest-artist at summer festivals in Aspen, Chautauqua, Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, Norfolk, Ravinia, Santa Fé and Yellow Barn. The Frankl-Pauk-Kirshbaum Trio travelled the world over 25 years and he has often performed with string quartets like the Amadeus, Artis, Bartok, Borodin, Brentano, Fine Arts, Guarneri, Lindsay, Takacs, Tokyo and Vermeer. He has given master classes in London, Budapest, Berlin, Madrid, Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul. Among his many recordings are the complete Schumann and Debussy piano works, the two Brahms’ Concerti, Violin, Viola and Clarinet Sonatas, Trios, Mozart Concerti, Violin Sonatas and 4-hand works, Bartok solo works and violin pieces, and the Piano Quintets of Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak, Martinu and Dohnanyi.
Peter has been on many jury panels of International Piano Competitions, including Van Cliburn, Rubinstein, Leeds, Santander, Hilton Head, William Kappell, Clara Haski, Paderewski, Marguerite Long, Queen Elizabeth in Brussels, Liszt Competitions in Budapest and Utrecht, Hong Kong, Shanghai and, as chairman, in Cleveland.
Peter studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Professors Hernadi, Kodaly and Weiner. He won first prizes at several international competitions in his early twenties. Peter lives in London and for 30 years he was Visiting Professor at Yale School of Music. Following his retirement at the end of 2017, he was given the prestigious award of Professor Adjunct Emeritus of Music from Yale University.
In Hungary he received the Officer’s Cross and Middle Cross in recognition of his artistic achievements. He is Honorary Professor of the Liszt Academy in Budapest. Previous Yellow Barn musician (since 2001)