Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the legendary performers of our time. The authority of a career spanning 65 years is uniquely combined with esprit and spontaneity in his piano playing. Tradition and innovation, faithfulness and freedom, authenticity and open-mindedness merge in his reading of the great piano literature.
Buchbinder is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the first soloist to be awarded the Golden Badge of Honor by the Staatskapelle Dresden.
His interpretations of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven in particular are regarded as setting standards. Buchbinder was the first pianist to play all of Beethoven's piano sonatas within one festival summer at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. The Salzburg cycle was recorded live for CD and DVD.
His most recent recordings of Beethoven's Complete Piano Concertos document a truly remarkable project. The Vienna Musikverein, for the first time in its history, gave a single pianist the honor of performing all five piano concertos by Beethoven in a specially created series. Buchbinder was joined by five of the world’s finest conductors and orchestras, namely the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle Dresden under Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev and Christian Thielemann, respectively.
As a contribution to Beethoven's 250th anniversary, Buchbinder initiated a cycle of New Diabelli Variations following the genesis of Beethoven's epochal Diabelli Variations. In cooperation with leading concert houses around the world the New Diabelli Variations were commissioned from eleven leading composers of our time.
Buchbinder attaches great importance to source research. His private collection of sheet music includes 39 different editions of Beethoven's complete piano sonatas as well as an extensive archive of first printings, original editions and copies of the autograph piano parts of both piano concertos by Johannes Brahms.
As Artistic Director, he is responsible for the Grafenegg Festival, which has been one of the most influential orchestral festivals in Europe since its founding in 2007.
