Ramzi Yassa (; born 1948) is an Egyptian pianist. Born in Cairo, Yassa is an outstanding member of the first batch of musicians trained at the

Cairo Conservatory The Cairo Conservatoire (; transliteration: ''Ma'had el-Konservatwar''; full name: "المعهد العالي للموسيقى "الكونســرفاتوار) is the primary music conservatory in Egypt. It was established in 1959 and is located in ...

. Yassa then joined the

Tchaikovsky Conservatory Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer Music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose music made a lasting impression internati ...

in Moscow in the class of

Sergei Dorensky Sergei Leonidovich Dorensky (; 3 December 1931 – 26 February 2020) was a Russian pianist. He trained under Grigory Ginsburg at the Moscow Conservatory. Dorensky was awarded a gold medal at the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students and the 1 ...

, where he earned an Honorary certificate after taking part in the 1974

Tchaikovsky competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

. He then launched a concert career, settling in Paris. In 1977, he was the first Egyptian pianist to win a major piano competition—the

'Paloma O'Shea' Santander International Piano Competition The Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition (in Spanish: Concurso Internacional de Piano de Santander "Paloma O'Shea") is a piano competition taking place in Santander, Spain. Founded in 1972 by Paloma O'Shea as a national prize, ...

. The first Arab pianist to record Beethoven's piano concertos (Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Ahmed El Saedi), Ramzi Yassa has performed in halls as renowned as the Vienna's

Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Grea ...

, the

Berliner Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

, the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

, the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

or the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

, the

Forbidden City Concert Hall Forbidden City Concert Hall () is a 1,419-seat multi-purpose venue in Beijing. The name of the venue came from the fact that it is located within the grounds of the Zhongshan Park (Beijing), Beijing Zhongshan Park, a vast former imperial altar Sh ...

, the Biblioteca Alexandrina, and in Egypt’s New Capital Opera in 2021, collaborating with conductors such as

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

Charles Groves Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors. After accompanying positions and conducting ...

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

, Alexander Sladkovsky, as well as other major Egyptian conductors. His recordings include works by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Chopin, and the Beethoven piano concertos, among others. Ramzi Yassa has been in the Panel of Judges in numerous international competitions in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Europe. He represented France in the Horowitz Competition, the Rubinstein Competition as well as the Santander Competition. As Artistic Director of the International Music Center - Manasterly Palace in Egypt, he invited exclusive international artists in a series that lasted for more than a decade. He is the Artistic Advisor of the Manial Palace Festival. Ramzi Yassa has given many charity concerts and is involved with the organization "Copts in Need". He also performed a series of concerts with "The Peace Orchestra" conducted by , in particular at the City Hall in Paris. Ramzi Yassa is a founder member of the ADAP, Association of Artists for Peace, and has given concerts in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece and Turkey. Yassa teaches at the École Normale de Musique "Alfred Cortot" in Paris, where he currently resides. He is a recipient of the Liszt Centennial Commemorative Medal as well as the 2007 Egyptian Merit State Prize for Music, for the first time awarded to a performing musician.

References

External links

Official website

Interview with Ramzi Yassa

Egypt Today ''Egypt Today'' is an Egyptian English-language monthly news magazine owned by United Media Services (UMS), a company owned by General Intelligence Service (Mukhabarat). History and profile ''Egypt Today'' was first published in 1979. It cover ...

Biography (Manasterly)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yassa, Ramzi Living people 1948 births Egyptian pianists Egyptian classical pianists Prize-winners of the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition 21st-century classical pianists

See also

References

External links