|
Pnina Salzman has long been considered the First Lady of the piano in Israel. She began playing the piano soon after she learned to walk and began performing in public at 8. Alfred Cortot, while on tour in Israel in 1932, heard her and invited her to study in Paris under his personal supervision. In Paris, Pnina Salzman studied with Magda Tagliaffero at the Conservatoire National de Musique, where she won the Prix de Piano at age 14.
About the same time, Bronislav Huberman (The famous violonist, founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), who attended one of her concerts in Paris, announced that it was a once in a lifetime experience to meet such talent, and recommended that she be engaged as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Pnina Salzman was invited to play three piano concertos (in one evening) with the orchestra. This marked the beginning of a long association with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Besides her many performances with them in Israel, she was chosen to be a featured soloist in two of their world tours, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini and by Josef Krips.
Pnina Salzman subsequently toured all five continents several times, playing with major orchestras under such conductors as Moshe Atzmon, Paul Ben-Haim Gary Bertini, Sergiu Comissiona, Colin Davis, Andrew Davis, Antal Doráti, Anatole Fistoulari, Lawrence Foster, Carlo Maria Giulini, Jascha Horenstein, Josef Krips, Erich Leinsdorf, Igor Markevitch, Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Charles Munch, Paul Paray, Mendi Rodan, Malcolm Sargent, David Shallon, and Noam Sheriff, George Singer, Georg Solti, Walter Susskind, Michael Taube, and Hans Vonk. In 1963 she was the first Israeli invited to play in the USSR and in 1994, the first Israeli pianist invited to play in China.
Pnina Salzman was an enthusiastic chamber music performer, member of the Israel Piano Quartet, and a regular guest with such distinguished chamber groups as the Amadeus String Quartet.
Pnina Salzman was a Professor and the head of the piano department at Tel Aviv University and served on the Jury of such prestigious International Piano Competitions as the Arthur Rubinstein Competition, Vladimir Horowitz Competition, as well as the Dublin, Iturbi/ Valencia, Munich, Athens, Sydney, and Seoul Competitions. |
