Pianist
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- This article deals with those who play the piano. For other uses, see pianist (disambiguation).
A pianist is a person who plays the piano.
A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an orchestra or smaller ensemble, or accompany one or more singers or solo instrumentalists.
A performing classical pianist usually starts playing piano at a very young age, some as early as three years old. Many well-known classical composers were able pianists themselves; for example, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Sergei Rachmaninoff were all virtuoso pianists. Most pianists specialize in certain composer(s)'s music or a certain period to some extent.
Most western forms of music can make use of the piano. Consequently, pianists have a wide variety of forms and styles to choose from, including jazz, classical music, and all sorts of popular music.
Below is a list of well-known or influential pianists of different genres.
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Classical pianists
- Valery Afanassiev
- Pierre-Laurent Aimard
- Dimitri Alexeev
- Leif Ove Andsnes
- Martha Argerich
- Claudio Arrau
- Vladimir Ashkenazy
- Gina Bachauer
- Wilhelm Backhaus
- Paul Badura-Skoda
- Daniel Barenboim
- Simon Barere
- David Bates
- Sean Bennett
- Bart Berman
- Lazar Berman
- Idil Biret
- Jorge Bolet
- Hendrik Bouman
- Alfred Brendel
- John Browning
- Hans von Bülow
- Ferruccio Busoni
- Bruno Canino
- Robert Casadesus
- Jiyang Chen
- Sa Chen
- Shura Cherkassky
- Dino Ciani
- Aldo Ciccolini
- Van Cliburn
- Harriet Cohen
- Naida Cole
- Jean-Philippe Collard
- Alfred Cortot
- Clifford Curzon
- Kristian Cvetkovic
- Georges Cziffra
- Bella Davidovich
- Alicia de Larrocha
- Nikolai Demidenko
- Vasso Devetsi
- Peter Donohoe
- Barry Douglas
- Hans Eijsackers
- Christoph Eschenbach
- Till Fellner
- Vladimir Feltsman
- Annie Fischer
- Edwin Fischer
- Leon Fleisher
- Tsong Fou
- Ignaz Friedman
- Ossip Gabrilowitsch
- Walter Gieseking
- Emil Gilels
- Jacob Gimpel
- Grigory Ginsburg
- Katrine Gislinge
- Leopold Godowsky
- Misha Goldstein
- Richard Goode
- Glenn Gould
- Gary Graffman
- Hélène Grimaud
- Friedrich Gulda
- Horatio Gutierrez
- Marc-André Hamelin
- Clara Haskil
- Ingrid Haebler
- Chase Hatmaker
- Gerard Hengeveld
- Myra Hess
- Angela Hewitt
- Józef Hofmann
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Mieczyslaw Horszowski
- Stephen Hough
- Peter Jablonski
- Zoran G Jancic
- Jenö Jandó
- Byron Janis
- William Kapell
- Julius Katchen
- Rudolf Kehrer
- Freddy Kempf
- Wilhelm Kempff
- Olga Kern
- Angela Jia Kim
- Evgeny Kissin
- Alexander Kobrin
- Zoltán Kocsis
- Raul Koczalski
- Tzvetan Konstantinov
- Evgeni Koroliov
- Stephen Kovacevich
- Lili Kraus
- Katia Labèque
- Marielle Labèque
- Lang Lang
- Colleen Lee
- Josef Lhévinne
- Rosina Lhévinne
- Ming-Qiang Li
- Yundi Li
- John Lill
- Dong-Hyek Lim
- Dinu Lipatti
- Eugene List
- Louis Lortie
- Radu Lupu
- Maura Lympany
- Witold Malcuzynski
- Joanna MacGregor
- Hephzibah Menuhin
- Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
- Hamish Milne
- Ivan Moravec
- Benno Moiseiwitsch
- Jon Nakamatsu
- Tatiana Nikolayeva
- Guiomar Novaes
- John Ogdon
- Garrick Ohlsson
- Gerhard Oppitz
- Rafael Orozco
- Cécile Ousset
- Vladimir de Pachmann
- Ignace Paderewski
- Murray Perahia
- Bernaldo Evangelista
- Jon Kimura Parker
- Alfredo Perl
- Vlado Perlemuter
- Egon Petri
- Maria Joao Pires
- Artur Pizarro
- Francis Planté
- Mikhail Pletnev
- Ivo Pogorelich
- Maurizio Pollini
- Viktoria Postnikova
- Menahem Pressler
- André Prévin
- Sergei Prokofiev
- Eduaro del Pueyo
- Sergei Vassilievitch Rachmaninoff
- Livia Rev
- Hans Richter-Haaser
- Sviatoslav Richter
- Bernard Roberts
- Pascal Rogé
- Moriz Rosenthal
- Charles Rosen
- Anton Rubinstein
- Arthur Rubinstein
- Nikolai Rubinstein
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- Emil von Sauer
- András Schiff
- Artur Schnabel
- Peter Serkin
- Rudolf Serkin
- Craig Sheppard
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- Ronald Smith
- Dmitris Sgouros
- Vladimir Sofronitsky
- Grigory Sokolov
- Juan Maria Solare
- Solomon
- Igor Tachuev
- Gerardo Teissonniere
- Jean-Yves Thibaudet
- Maria Tipo
- Alexander Toradze
- David Tudor
- Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak
- Rosalyn Tureck
- Mitsuko Uchida
- Arie Vardi
- Arcadi Volodos
- André Watts
- Alexis Weissenberg
- Earl Wild
- Elisso Wirssaladze
- Paul Wittgenstein
- Daniel Wnukowski
- Oxana Yablonskaya
- Maria Yudina
- Christian Zacharias
- Krystian Zimerman
Pop music pianists
- Tori Amos
- Richard Clayderman
- Vanessa Carlton
- Jo Ann Castle
- Nick Cave
- Russ Conway
- Ben Folds
- Billy Joel
- Elton John
- Norah Jones
- Alicia Keys
- Oksana Kolesnikova
- Liberace
- Barry Manilow
- Joni Mitchell
- Peter Skellern
Jazz pianists
Blues pianists
- Ray Charles also jazz, and country music
- Fats Domino
- Little Willie Littlefield
- Professor Longhair
- Jimmy Yancey
- Otis Spann
See the List of boogie woogie musicians for more blues players.
Country pianists
- Owen Bradley, also a record producer
- Floyd Cramer, "Last Date"
- Mickey Gilley, cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart
- Jerry Lee Lewis, also rock and roll
- Ronnie Milsap
- Moon Mullican, "I'll Sail My Ship Alone"
- Charlie Rich
- Hargus "Pig" Robbins, legendary session player
- Fred Rose, also a music publisher
- Del Wood, "Down Yonder"
Other genres
Well known gospel or contemporary Christian pianists include:
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