Leon Fleisher

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Leon Fleisher (born July 23, 1928) is an American pianist and conductor.

He was born in San Francisco, California, where he started studying the piano at age 4. He made his public debut at age 8 and played with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux at 16. He studied with Artur Schnabel.

He made a memorable series of recordings with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra before losing the use of his right hand due to focal dystonia. He continued performing the left-handed repertoire until he quite recently regained the use of his right hand through the injection of botox. He also undertook conducting during this time, serving at one time as Music Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Maryland. He is particularly well-known for his interpretations of the piano concerti of Brahms and Beethoven. In 2004, Vanguard Classics released Leon Fleisher's first "two-handed" recording in over 40 years, entitled "Two Hands," to critical acclaim.

Fleisher's musical interests extend beyond the central German Romantic repertory. The American composer William Bolcom composed his Concerto for Two Pianos, Left Hand for Fleisher and his close friend Gary Graffman, who has also suffered from debilitating problems with his right hand. It received its first performance in Baltimore in April 1996. The concerto is constructed in such a way that it can be performed in one of three ways, with either piano part alone with reduced orchestra, or with both piano parts and the two reduced orchestras combined into a full orchestra.

He has continued to be involved in music, both conducting and teaching at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music. As a teacher, Fleisher has carried on a tradition that descends directly from Beethoven himself, handed down generationally through Carl Czerny, Theodor Leschititsky, Artur Schnabel, Fleisher himself, and then to hundreds of Fleisher's own piano students over nearly half a century. His influence on classical pianists of the current day, especially in North America, is enormous. Some notable pianists who were students of Leon Fleisher include Andre Watts, Emilio del Rosario, Louis Lortie, Daniel Wnukowski, Claudio Martinez Mehner, Jonathan Biss, Yael Weiss, Xak Bjerken, Stephen Prutsman, Jeffrey Chappell, Julian Martin, Stewart Goodyear, Jane Coop, Phillip Bush, Brian Ganz, Enrique Graf, Marian Hahn, Reiko Uchida, Stephane Lemelin, Reynaldo Reyes, and Michael Campbell.