| Simon Tedeschi | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Date: | 1981 5, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Gosford, Australia |
| Occupation: | Pianist |
Simon Tedeschi (born 1 May 1981) is an Australian classical pianist and writer.
Tedeschi was born in Gosford to Mark Tedeschi QC, Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales,[1] and doctor Vivienne Tedeschi, the daughter of a Polish Holocaust survivor, Lucy Gershwin.[2]
Raised in a Jewish household, he grew up on the North Shore of Sydney[3] and attended Beaumont Road Public School in West Killara[4] and St Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney where the headmaster discouraged him from taking part in sports lest he damage his hands.[5]
His teachers were Neta Maughan in Australia, Noretta Conci in England and Peter Serkin in the United States.
When he was 9 years old, Tedeschi performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 19, K.459 in the Sydney Opera House. At age 13, he played for Luciano Pavarotti.[6]
Tedeschi signed with Sony Music Australia in 2000.[7] His debut CD, Simon Tedeschi, was nominated for at the ARIA Music Awards of 2000 for Best Classical Album.[8] In 2004 he recorded Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano Concerto and Grieg's Piano Concerto with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra with Richard Bonynge. His album, Grieg / Tchaikovsky – Piano Concertos, peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Classical chart in October 2005.[9]
In November 2012 he released his next album, Gershwin and Me (Universal Music Group/ABC), which reached No. 4 on the ARIA Classical, No. 5 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums, No. 68 on the ARIA Top 100 Physical Albums charts in January 2013.[10] In that year, a follow-up album, Gershwin Take 2, by Tedeschi with James Morrison and Sarah McKenzie was issued.[11] It received two ARIA Award nominations in 2014 for Virginia Read's work as engineer and producer.[12]
He released a recording of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for ABC/Universal[13] and performed Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto no. 4 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.[14]
He appeared regularly on the TV show Spicks and Specks on ABC TV, and he participated in the Oscar-winning movie Shine, where he played the hands of David Helfgott.[15] [16]
In 2022, Tedeschi published his first book entitled Fugitive, an unclassifiable work encompassing prose poetry, philosophy, memoir, meditation, aphorism and essay; the title is a reference to Prokofiev's collection of piano miniatures, Visions fugitives.[17] It was shortlisted for the 2023 Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry.[18] In May 2022, Tedeschi was announced as the winner of the Australian Book Reviews Calibre Prize for his essay "This woman my grandmother".[19] Fugitive was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection at the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards.[20]
He played the role of Mozart in Sydney Opera House's Babies Proms,[21] and performed a show based on his childhood, Simon Tedeschi: Pianist and Prankster at the Monkey Baa Theatre Company.[22]
Tedeschi currently lives in Sydney with his wife, painter Loribelle Spirovski.
| Simon Tedeschi |
| |
|---|---|---|
| Piano Concertos: Tchaikovsky, Grieg (with The Queensland Orchestra & Richard Bonynge) |
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| Simon Tedeschi & Ian Cooper (with Ian Cooper) |
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| Gershwin & Me |
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| Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV488 (with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra & Alexander Briger) |
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| Gershwin & Me: Take Two |
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| Tender Earth: Australian Music for Piano |
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| Enoch Arden (with Alfred Tennyson, Richard Strauss & John Bell) |
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| A Winter's Tale (with Roger Benedict) |
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Tedeschi was awarded the ABC Young Performer of the Year in 1998,[23] performing the Ginastera Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jun Märkl. He was also the winner of the top prize in the keyboard section of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in London (2002).[24]
In January 2001 Tedeschi was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal by the then Prime Minister of Australia John Howard with a citation, "For service as a Young Australian of the Year Finalist."[25]
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. ! |-| 2000| Simon Tedeschi| Best Classical Album| |rowspan="2" | [26] |-| 2006| Piano Concertos: Tchaikovsky, Grieg (with The Queensland Orchestra & Richard Bonynge)| Best Classical Album| |-|rowspan="2" | 2014|rowspan="2" | Virginia Read for Gershwin: Take Two| Engineer of the Year| |rowspan="2" ||-| Producer of the Year| |-| 2023| Debussy – Ravel (with Roger Benedict)| Best Classical Album| | [27] |-