At the age of 11, he
was already playing Liszt's La Campanella and Hungarian Rhapsody
No.13 on NBC television and at 12, he made his first recording for
RCA Victor on Rachmaninov's own piano, playing Beethoven's Diabelli
Variations.
At 13, he performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1 and a year later
Brahms' Piano Concerto No.2 with the Washington National Symphony
Orchestra in USA.
Between 1961 and 1969, invited by Arthur Fiedler, Eugen Indjic
appeared numerous times each season with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
His first concert tour (consisting of 13 concerts) was in Denmark
(1963), together with Alexander Borovsky. "He plays Chopin
as a pole, Debussy as a Frenchman and Prokofiev as a Russian master",
wrote the Politiken of Copenhagen.
After his graduation in 1965 from Phillips Academy Andover, Erich
Leinsdorf invited him to play Brahms' Piano Concerto No.2 with the
Boston Symphony, making him the youngest soloist ever to appear
with that orchestra.
"Leonard-Bernstein Scholar" at Harvard University, he
studied musicology and composition with Laurence D. Berman and Leon
Kirchner, graduating "cum laude" in 1969. Leonard Bernstein
qualified him as "an extraordinary pianist and musician"
and Emil Gilels, who often heard him during his American tours in
these years, called him "a unique and inspired artist".
While in Harvard, he also took private lessons at the Juilliard
School with Mieczyslaw Munz]] and Rosina Lhevinne's apprentice Lee
Thompson.
In 1968, he met Arthur Rubinstein, who remained a friend and mentor
until his death, calling Indjic "a world-class pianist of rare
musical and artistic perfection". He studied composition with
Nadia Boulanger in Paris and then definitely settled in France in
1972 after marrying Odile Rabaud, granddaughter of the French composer
Henri Rabaud, who succeeded Faure as director of the Paris Conservatory,
and coincidentally in 1919 the first French conductor of the Boston
Symphony.
Prize-winner of three international contests - Chopin Competition
Warsaw(1970), Leeds International Pianoforte Competition(1972),
and Rubinstein Tel Aviv(1974) - Indjic has performed with the leading
orchestras of the United States, Europe and Asia, and under such
conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Valery Gergiev,
Eugen Jochum, Rafael Kubelik, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Sanderling,
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Georg Solti, Edo de Waart and David Zinman, among
others.
He continues to play regularly on great world stages such as Carnegie
Hall Isaac Stern Auditorium, Avery Fisher Hall, Queen Elizabeth
Hall, the Concertgebouw Grote Zaal, the Musikverein, Salle Pleyel
and Theatre des Champs Elysees, Moscow Conservatory Bolshoi Hall,
La Scala.
Eugen Indjic was invited to participate in a televised co-production
(France, Poland, Japan) of Chopin's complete works and has recorded
for Polskie Nagrania Muza, Columbia Records, RCA Victor, Claves
and Calliope.
His discography includes works by Chopin (Piano Concertos, complete
Ballades, Scherzi, Impromptus, Sonatas and Mazurkas), Debussy, Schumann,
Prokofiev, as well as Beethoven. Arte Nova Classics has released
live performances with the Suedwestrundfunk Orchestra of Tchaikovsky's
Piano Concerto No.1 Concerto with Yuri Ahronovich and Rachmaninoff's
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganin with Sinopoli. His recording of Chopin's
Mazurkas was doubly acclaimed because of the Joyce Hatto hoax. The
English pianist signed her name to this disc and received rave reviews.
In addition to performing, Indjic regularly teaches master classes
in Europe, Japan and the United States, and is a frequent jury member
of international competitions including the Chopin Competition,
Liszt Wroclaw, Rubinstein Tel Aviv, Prague Spring Festival, Lisbon
Vianna da Motta International Music Competition.
In 2010, he was named "artist-in-residence" at the Prague
Symphony Orchestra. |