Peter Roesel (Germany)

Peter Roesel, son of a conductor and a singer, was born in Dresden, Germany. After beginning piano studies at the age of six, he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, first with Dmitri Bashkirov and later with Lev Oborin. During his years in Moscow he won prizes at several major competitions, including the 1963 International Schumann Competition, 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and International Piano Competition in Montreal in 1968. Mr. Roesel has performed not only in all the main musical centers of Europe but also in North and South America, Australia, the Middle East and the Far East. He has played with such orchestras as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the Detroit, Minnesota, Toronto and Montréal Symphony Orchestras; the BBC Orchestra; the Berlin Philharmonic and, of course, the Dresden Staatskapelle. Since 1970, Peter Roesel has worked very closely with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He has performed as their soloist in more than 200 concerts during international tours. It was Kurt Masur who invited him to play Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto at the 150th Jubilee Celebration of the New York Philharmonic.

In addition to his many concert appearances, Peter Roesel has made a large number of recordings for labels such as EMI, Capriccio, Ars Vivendi and Berlin Classics. The works include the piano concertos of Weber (with Staatskapelle Dresden and Herbert Blomstedt), Schumann (with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Kurt Masur), Rachmaninov and Beethoven (with Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester with Kurt Sanderling and Claus-Peter Flor respectively). In addition, Mr. Roesel has served on the juries of a number of acclaimed international piano competitions, including the William Kapell International Piano Competiton.

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