Regarded by critics and fellow artists as one of today’s most distinguished musicians, Martino Tirimo’s career started early. From age eight he was performing Concertos and at twelve conducted seven performances of ‘La Traviata’ with orchestra and soloists from La Scala, Milano.
Born in Cyprus, he first studied piano and violin with his father, Dimitri Tirimo, a distinguished violinist and opera conductor. After winning the Liszt Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music at 16, he studied there and won all major Prizes in piano and composition. He completed his studies at the Vienna Academy and finally with his greatest mentor, Gordon Green. Victories at the international competitions in Munich and Geneva launched his international career. In 2010 alone, he gave more than 100 concerts including the complete works of Chopin at London’s Kings Place, described by critics as “a colossal feat”. He has performed all over the world with most major orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Staatskappelle Dresden, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, under many top conductors such as Barbirolli, Boult, Bychkov, Marriner, Masur, Norrington, Rattle and Kurt Sanderling.
His numerous other recordings for EMI/Warner, ALTO and various companies include the complete works of Mozart, Debussy, Janacek, Schubert’s 21 Sonatas and the Concertos of Chopin, Mozart, and Tippett (with composer conducting). He won a Gold Disc for his Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 and ‘Paganini’ Rhapsody, one of EMI’s former best-sellers (returning on ALTO Feb 2022 ALC 1447). In November 2019 Hanssler Classic released the first ever complete recording of Beethoven’s entire Piano Solo Works on the modern piano. The boxed set of 16 CDs was recorded at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and reviews have been unanimous: “An incredible achievement” (American Record Guide), “A unique complete set” (Artamag, France), “a major recorded achievement” (Gramophone, UK), “majestic, supreme, sublime” (Fanfare, USA). In comparing all available Beethoven Sonata sets, the Spectator concluded that this “new cycle sweeps all before it” and that this is “surely the greatest recorded achievement of this anniversary year.”
As conductor he worked closely with the Dresden Philharmonic, Prague Chamber and other leading orchestras. His compositions include the film score for the ‘Odyssey’. Since 2002 he has concertized widely with his Trio, the Rosamunde Trio, in Europe and the US. He also works with talented young pianists and twelve of his students have won first prizes at international competitions. Moreover, he is in demand for masterclasses worldwide, most recently at festivals in Japan, China, the USA and Italy. His critical Urtext edition of Schubert’s 21 Sonatas in three volumes is published by Vienna Urtext Edition.
His enormous repertoire embraces 80 Concertos and nearly the entire major solo works of the great composers. In 2004 he performed during the Olympic period at the Athens Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic, and also had the honour of running with the Olympic torch. In recent years his tours have also included concerts in Asia, notably China and Japan. In 2011 he was awarded the Nemitsas Foundation Prize for Excellence in the Arts and Sciences.
