Franz Liszt
October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer. While he was known as a prominent teacher and conductor, it was his unsurpassed skill as a pianist that endowed him legendary fame.

Liszt’s became interested in piano while listening to his father play, a skilled violinist, cellist, guitarist, and pianist in his own right. Young Liszt began learning piano at seven, and attempted composing a year later. At nine he was performing, and showed great skill. It was from this exposure that he received an endorsement to study abroad.

He received instruction from various composers in Vienna, including Salieri. Liszt was quickly recognized for his talents. He relocated to Paris, and rose to prominence there. He began touring, conducting, while also supporting himself with teaching. He also reserved dedicated time for composing, which focused mostly on piano compositions. It was only later in his career that Liszt incorporated orchestration.

Liszt final years were marked by a turn to church music, which were introspective, somewhat gloomy, but still retained the originality and flair he demonstrated his entire life.

Notable works:
Symphonic Poem #3, Les Préludes
Hungarian Rhapsodies
Piano Concertos #'s 1 and 2

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Franz Peter Schubert
January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828

Franz Peter Schubert’s work, while not particularly valued during his lifetime, has since been recognized as a master of the Romantic era. His writing was respected for its glowing melodies and harmonies, both of which Schubert employed with mastery in multiple classical music genres.

His first exposure to music came at home, then later studied singing at the Convict court, where he also tried composing. His talents were recognized as formidable, however, his voice broke, halting his career. He taught as a schoolteacher (which he despised) while composing at night. He eventually abandoned his job to teach music privately. He wrote and self published but saw little success.

Slowly his pieces were featured in opera houses, and received enthusiastically. He continued to struggle, however, and his health suffered. He died in 1828.

Notable works:
Incidental Music to Rosamunde
Moments Musicaux for Piano
Piano Sonata #21
Quintet in A
Symphony #5 in B-flat Major
Symphony #8 in B Minor, Unfinished Symphony

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Playing the piano is Vadim Chaimovich's first and foremost passion and his heart belongs to classical music, from Baroque to Modernism. In the meantime, his performances have been viewed over five million times on YouTube and gained him a large international fan base. Newspaper critics are unanimous in their praise of his interpretations deeming them as "sensitive and expressive", "intelligent and powerful". Meanwhile film and TV placements of Vadim's recordings include such shorts as "Waiting for a Stranger" (2011) and "Killing Time" (2015), a TV Series "#LoveMonkeyChocolateFlowers" (2014 –) and a 2014 drama "Female Pervert" by Jiyoung Lee as well as the Annecy International Animated Film Festival award winning cartoon " Sidewalk Scribble" by Peter Lowey.

Vadim Chaimovich was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and gave his debut performance with an orchestra aged seven. He is a graduate with honors from two conservatoires of music and received prizes at many international piano competitions, including the Schubert Competition in Dortmund (Germany) and the William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland (USA). In 2003, Vadim Chaimovich’s outstanding artistry was distinguished with the Promotion Prize of the Dresden Art and Culture Foundation. He is also the winner of the 2009 10th International Web Concert Hall Competition (USA). As the First Prize winner of the 2009 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition (New York) he gave his debut performance in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Vadim has given numerous concerts across Europe, in Japan and the USA, among others at the Vienna Musikverein and the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall New York as well as at such renowned international music festivals as the Dresden Music Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. He collaborated with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra etc. His third live CD "Kontraste" appeared in 2013 and received two prestigious Global Music Awards.

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