Simon Tedeschi (born 1 May 1981) is an Australian classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

and writer.

Early life

Tedeschi was born in

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern ext ...

to Mark Tedeschi QC, Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales, and doctor Vivienne Tedeschi, the daughter of a Polish Holocaust survivor, Lucy Gershwin. Raised in a

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

household, he grew up on the

North Shore North Shore or Northshore may refer to: Geographic features Australia *North Shore (Sydney), a suburban region of Sydney **Electoral district of North Shore **North Shore railway line, Sydney *Noosa North Shore, Queensland * North Shore, New So ...

of Sydney and attended Beaumont Road Public School in

West Killara West Killara is a locality in the suburb of Killara, a suburb located on the Upper North Shore Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 14 kilometres north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local gover ...

and

St Andrew's Cathedral School , motto_translation = The Way of the Cross is the Way of Light , established = , type = Independent co-educational comprehensive and specialist primary and secondary day school , denomination = ...

in Sydney where the headmaster discouraged him from taking part in sports lest he damage his hands. His teachers were Neta Maughan in Australia, Noretta Conci in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Peter Serkin Peter Adolf Serkin (July 24, 1947 – February 1, 2020) was an American classical pianist. He won the Grammy Award for Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist in 1966, and he performed globally, known for not only "technically pristine" pl ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. When he was 9 years old, Tedeschi performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 19, K.459 in the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century archit ...

. At age 13, he played for

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

Career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...

Tedeschi signed with

Sony Music Australia Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...

in 2000. His debut CD, ''Simon Tedeschi'', was nominated for at the

ARIA Music Awards of 2000 The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Presenters distributed 28 awards with the big win ...

for

Best Classical Album The Grammy Award for Best Classical Album was awarded from 1962 to 2011. The award had several minor name changes: *From 1962 to 1963, 1965 to 1972 and 1974 to 1976 the award was known as Album of the Year – Classical *In 1964 and 1977 it wa ...

. In 2004 he recorded Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto and Grieg's Piano Concerto with the

Queensland Symphony Orchestra Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra in the state of Queensland. The orchestra is based in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's building in South Bank. The Orchestra is funded by private corporations, the ...

with

Richard Bonynge Richard Alan Bonynge ( ) (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performanc ...

. His album, ''Grieg / Tchaikovsky – Piano Concertos'', peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Classical chart in October 2005. In November 2012 he released his next album, ''Gershwin and Me'' (

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

/ABC), which reached No. 4 on the ARIA Classical, No. 5 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums, No. 68 on the ARIA Top 100 Physical Albums charts in January 2013. In that year, a follow up album, ''Gershwin Take 2'', by Tedeschi with James Morrison and

Sarah McKenzie Sarah McKenzie is an Australian jazz musician. She is a singer, pianist and composer. Her album '' Close Your Eyes'' won the 2012 ARIA Music Award for Best Jazz Album. She was also nominated for the same award in 2011 with ''Don't Tempt Me'' a ...

was issued. It received two ARIA Award nominations in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

for Virginia Read's work as engineer and producer. He released a recording of ''

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

's Pictures at an Exhibition'' for ABC/Universal and performed Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto no. 4 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Media

He appeared regularly on the TV show Spicks and Specks on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

TV, and he participated in the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

-winning movie '' Shine'', where he played the hands of

David Helfgott David Helfgott (born 19 May 1947) is an Australian concert pianist whose life inspired the Academy Award-winning film ''Shine'', in which he was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz. Biography Early life Helfg ...

Writing

In 2022, Tedeschi published his first book entitled ''Fugitive'', an unclassifiable work encompassing prose poetry, philosophy, memoir, meditation, aphorism and essay; the title is a reference to

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

's collection of piano miniatures, '' Visions fugitives''. It was shortlisted for the 2023

Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies ...

.'''' In May 2022, Tedeschi was announced as the winner of the ''

Australian Book Review ''Australian Book Review'' is an Australian arts and literary review. Created in 1961, ''ABR'' is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing. The aims of the magazine are 'to ...

''s Calibre Prize for his essay "This woman my grandmother".

Work for children

He played the role of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

in Sydney Opera House's ''Babies Proms'', and performed a show based on his childhood, ''Simon Tedeschi: Pianist and Prankster'' at the Monkey Baa Theatre Company.

Personal life

Tedeschi currently lives in Sydney with his wife, painter Loribelle Spirovski.

Discography

Albums

Awards

Tedeschi was awarded the ABC Young Performer of the Year in 1998, performing the Ginastera Piano Concerto no. 1 with the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

under the baton of Jun Markl. He was also the winner of the top prize in the keyboard section of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London (2002). In January 2001 Tedeschi was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal by the then Prime Minister of Australia

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

with a citation, "For service as a Young Australian of the Year Finalist."

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, ''Simon Tedeschi'' ,

, , rowspan="2" , ARIA Award previous winners. , - , 2006 , ''Piano Concertos: Tchaikovsky, Grieg'' (with

The Queensland Orchestra Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra in the state of Queensland. The orchestra is based in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's building in South Bank. The Orchestra is funded by private corporations, t ...

) , Best Classical Album , , - , rowspan="2" ,

, rowspan="2" , Virginia Read for ''Gershwin: Take Two'' , Engineer of the Year , , rowspan="2" , , - ,

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

, , -

References

External links

*
"Simon Tedeschi: hearing a different beat"
by Sharon Verghis, ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatewat ...

'', 3 July 2010
"Piano star Simon Tedeschi shares the keys to his success in school holiday show"
by Chris Hook, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 20 September 2014 * * his

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internatio ...

's theme for ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tedeschi, Simon 1981 births Living people People from Gosford Musicians from Sydney Australian classical pianists Male classical pianists Recipients of the Centenary Medal 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian musicians