Sanford-Hill Piano Series: Simon Trpčeski

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski (pronounced terp-CHESS-kee) has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, praised not only for his powerful virtuosity and deeply expressive approach, but also for his charismatic stage presence. Launched onto the international scene twenty years ago as a BBC New-Generation Artist, his fast-paced career has seen him collaborate with over a hundred different orchestras on four continents with appearances on the most prestigious stages.

Simon Trpceski is a frequent soloist with the major North American orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, and the Chicago, San Francisco, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and Baltimore symphonies among others. Engagements with major European ensembles include all of the major London orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre National de France and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Elsewhere, he has appeared with the New Japan, China, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonics and the Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and New Zealand symphonies.

The long list of prominent conductors Mr. Trpceski has worked with includes Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Macelaru, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Charles Dutoit, Jakob Hrusa, Vladimir Jurowski, Susanna Malkki, Andris Nelson, Antonio Pappano, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas and David Zinman.

Mr. Trpceski’s fruitful collaboration with EMI Classics, Avie Records, Wigmore Hall Live, Onyx Classics, and currently Linn Records has resulted in a broad and award-winning discography which includes repertoire such as Rachmaninoff’s complete works for piano and orchestra and the Prokofiev piano concertos as well as composers such as Poulenc, Debussy and Ravel. Variations, his latest solo album released in Spring 2022, features works by Brahms, Beethoven and Mozart.

Born in Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpceski is a graduate of the School of Music at the University of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in Skopje, where he studied with Boris Romanov. Committed to strengthening the cultural image of his native country, his chamber music project MAKEDOMISSIMO is dedicated to introducing audiences world-wide to the rich traditional Macedonian folk roots, which weaves the Macedonian folk music tradition with highly virtuosic, jazz influenced riffs and harmonies into one unique sound world. Since its successful premiere in 2018, Makedonissimo has performed to audiences world-wide and released a CD on Linn Records.

With the special support of KulturOp — Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organization — Mr. Trpceski also works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia to help cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists. In 2009, Mr. Trpceski received the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia and in 2011, he became the first-ever recipient of the title “National Artist of Macedonia.”