Benjamin Pasternack

Piano Soloist

October 9, 1993
Pianist Benjamin Pasternack was the Grand Prize winner at the inaugural World Music Masters Piano Competition held in Paris in July 1989. Bestowed by the unanimous vote of a distinguished panel of judges, the honor carried with it engagements in Portugal, France, Canada, Switzerland and the United States. His earlier competition victory, in August 1988 when he won top prize at the 40th Busoni International Piano Competition, led to a series of recitals in Northern Italy and a compact disc recording on the Nuova Era label.

Mr. Pasternack's American engagements have included appearances as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Hartford, as well as the Pacific Symphony. He has been a guest artist at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Capuchos Festival in Portugal and the Menton Festival in France. In October 1988 he won exceptional critical acclaim appearing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on less than 36 hours notice, performing Mozart! s Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453. He appeared again with the Boston Symphony in August 1991, at Tanglewood, as soloist in Leonard Bernstein! s Symphony No. 2, 'Me Age of Anxiety," under Seiji Ozawa' s direction. Shortly thereafter he performed the Bernstein work in Athens, Salzburg and Paris as part of the Orchestra! s European tour.

Other highlights of his recent seasons have included two recital tours of Europe, with the performances at the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Alte Oper in Frankfort and the Salle Gaveau in Paris, and a concert with Erich Leinsdorf and the Tonhalle Orchestra.

A native of Philadelphia, Benjamin Pasternack began his performance career at the age of 8. At 13, he entered the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Rudolf Serkin and Seymour Lipkin. His other teachers have included Leon Fleisher and Leonard Shure. Mr. Pasternack is currently a member of the piano faculty at Boston University' s School for the Arts.