Roberto Szidon (21 September 1941 – 21 December 2011) was a Brazilian classical pianist who had an international performing and recording career, and settled in Germany.[1]
Roberto Szidon was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1941. He gave his first concert at age 9, in his home town of Porto Alegre. He then studied composition with Karl Faust, and continued his pianistic studies in the United States with Ilona Kabos and Claudio Arrau.
He played with many renowned orchestras. He was the soloist at the premiere of Camargo Guarnieri's Piano Concerto No. 4, in Porto Alegre, on 6 September 1972.[2]
As a recording artist, he was best known for his complete recording of the 10 Piano Sonatas and the Fantaisie in B minor by Alexander Scriabin[3][4] and his complete recording of the 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies and the Rhapsodie espagnole by Franz Liszt.[5]
He recorded a prize-winning LP in 1965 of Heitor Villa-Lobos's Rudepoêma. Other Villa-Lobos works in his discography were A fiandeira, Saudades dos selvas brasileiras, New York Skyline (1957 version), Carnaval dos crianças, A lenda do caboclo, Suite floral, Op. 97 (1949 revision),[6] and 16 Cirandas and 12 Cirandinhas.[7] He also recorded the works of other Brazilian composers such as Ernesto Nazareth, Francisco Mignone and Chiquinha Gonzaga.
He also recorded Sergei Rachmaninoff's 2nd Sonata, Sergei Prokofiev's 6th Sonata,[8] and Gershwin's Concerto in F.[9] He accompanied Thomas Quasthoff in Schumann's Dichterliebe, Liederkreis, Op. 39, and other songs.[10]
Szidon died in December 2011, in Düsseldorf, Germany, of a heart attack, aged 70.