Florian Krumpöck

“Forget about Lang Lang and Arcadi Volodos. Austria has its own virtuosic tiger of the keyboard” was how the newspaper Die Presse put its pronouncement of Florian Krumpöck, the pianist and conductor who was born in Vienna in 1978.

The son of a cellist and an art historian, Mr Krumpöck studied from an early age with some of the leading pianists of the day, including Rudolf Buchbinder, Gerhard Oppitz and Elisabeth Leonskaja. After a private performance, none other than Daniel Barenboim pronounced him quite simply “a wonderful pianist,” thus paving the way for a promising international career.

The sensational reviews which greeted his debut at the Tonhalle in Zurich with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Fedosejew led to further concert engagements in such leading European music centers as Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Moscow, as well as in Israel, the USA and China. Highly acclaimed solo recitals at international festivals such as the Bregenz Festival, the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Music Summer at Bad Kissingen further consolidated his pianistic career.

In 2003 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with a highly praised solo recital and gave his first concert at the Vienna Musikverein.



Sir Peter Ustinov also helped introduce the young musician to a wider public. In an exclusive arrangement since 2003 the piano maker Blüthner provides Mr Krumpöck for life with a concert grand piano that accompanies him in concert appearances and recordings.

To date he has released six CD recordings of works by Mozart, Schubert, Liszt and Weber. These recordings have been issued on the Pan Classics, Preiser Records and Blüthner Records labels (distributed by Hänssler).

Since his childhood Florian Kurmpöck has devoted himself to a vast piano repertoire that, besides complete cycles like the Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach and the 32 piano sonatas and the five piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven, also encompasses several first performances and world premières (including works by Korngold, Wellesz, Weigl and Schreker). His repertoire also includes such fearsomely difficult works as Max Reger’s Bach Variations and Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrouchka.

Encouraged by his mentor Daniel Barenboim, Mr Krumpöck widened his repertoire to include symphonic works and opera and turned his attentions increasingly to conducting. His studies in this area led to his extremely successful performances as guest conductor of the Sinfonietta Baden and the Prussian Chamber Orchestra.

In 2006 his sensational debut with the Jerusalem Symphony, conducting Schumann’s Symphony no. 2, won him international acclaim. He was subsequently appointed as principal conductor of the Sinfonietta Baden, as well as the artistic director of the Beethoven Festival Baden.

In the current season Florian Krumpöck will conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra for the first time in a New Year’s concert. In addition he will perform two complete cycles of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas as well as the first book of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. He will also appear as guest conductor in Germany, Turkey and Spain.

As of the 2008-2009 season he will serve as assistant to the music director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.