Peter Orth's dedicated pursuit of his musical ideals and his devotion to the piano and its literature have made him one of the most consistently acclaimed artists of his generation.
At age three, Peter Orth was demanding to be placed on the piano bench; by six, he knew that music and the piano would be his life. In these early years, his love of chamber music was formed by the study of several musical instruments, in particular, the violin. In his native Philadelphia, his early studies with Benjamin Whitten led to his performance with The Philadelphia Orchestra at age fifteen. After completing his studies at The Julliard School with the legendary Adele Marcus, he was one of two pianists invited to work with Rudolph Serkin at the Institute for Young Performing Musicians in Vermont.
In 1979, Peter Orth won first prize in the Naumburg International Piano Competition, held in memory of Wiliam Kapell, an award that catapulted him into the American musical mainstream. While coaching with French pianist Paul Doguereau (a pupil of Egon Petri, Emil von Sauer and Maurice Ravel), he was awarded The Fanny Peabody-Mason Memorial Award in Boston. A further honor was bestowed when he was named the recipient of the second "Shura Cherkassky Recital Award" from New York city's prestigious 92nd Street YM-YWHA. In 1988, he was one of 23 international Steinway artists invited to participate in the historic Carnegie Hall concert and telecast, celebrating the 135th anniversary of Steinway & Sons and the creation of its 500,000 piano.
Peter Orth has been guest soloist with virtually every major orchestra in North America, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the American, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis and Utah Symphony Orchestras, while, in Europe, he has been heard with the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, L'Orchestre de Lyon, Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Nacional de España. He has collaborated with a host of today's distinguished conductiors: Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Leslie B. Dunner, Charles Dutoit, Günter Herbig, Peter Leonard, Raymond Leppard, Zubin Mehta, Peter Rubardt, Leonard Slatkin, Richard Westerfield.
Peter Orth's solo career includes recitals at New York City's Alice Tully Hall, Hunter College's Sylvia & Danny Kaye Playhouse and the 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall. In Washington, he has perfomed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, National Gallery of Art and The Library of Congress, and in Boston, at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. He is also a welcomed guest artist at the famed festivals of Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Aspen, Bad Kissingen and Kuhmo. An active and esteemed chamber musician, Mr. Orth has collaborated with the Manhattan and Muir String Quartets and, since moving to Cologne in 1991, has had an active partnership with Germany's Auryn Quartet. He also toured throughout the United States with Music from Marlboro.
Highlights of Peter Orth's current season include a return engagement with German's Philharmonisches Orchester Augsburg, under the baton of Peter Leonard, more European and American performances with the Auryn Quartet and a special duo-recital with clarnetist Jon Manasses on the distinguished series of The Rockefeller University in New York City.
Peter Orth may be heard on two recent CDs: a Brahms/Schumann solo album on Diavolo Records (#DR-D-C-96-004) and, with the Auryn Quartet, the two piano quintets of Gabriel Fauré on the CPO label (#WDR 999 357-2), which was named "Best Chamber Music Recording of 1998" by Classic CD magazine in London.
