Murray Perahia

American pianist Murray Perahia began his recording career in earnest in the 1980s when he tackled Mozart's complete piano concertos. He had established his reputation much earlier, however, studying as a teenager with Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals, and going on to work with Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival before becoming its co-artistic director. His repertoire has ranged widely, from the Baroque period -- a crucial interpretation of Bach's Goldberg Variations -- to Romantic composers like Chopin. Mozart and Schubert also form cornerstones of his discography. Since 1990, when he suffered first a severely infected thumb and then a bone abnormality in his hand, Perahia has been forced to take occasional leaves of absence from the stage and the studio, although he has dedicated his downtime to the detailed study of musical scores.