Biography

Peter Waters
Born in Broken Hill, Australia, the internationally renowned pianist Peter Waters completed his piano studies in Adelaide with Clemens Leske, and in London with Peter Wallfisch.

Various prizes awarded during his student years include solo performance prizes from the Royal College of Music as well as the Australian Musical Association Prize.

One of his first major appearances in Europe was at the Salzburg Festival, where he played with the soprano Gundula Janowitz in Paul Hindemith's "Marienleben". This was followed by recitals in numerous European cities and at countless music festivals.

In 1996 Peter Waters was the Musical Director and solo pianist in a series of concerts organized as an exchange project between St Petersburg and Switzerland, entitled "Mozart and Modern".

Enthusiastic critical acclaim for his interpretation of Maurice Ravel's Piano concerto in G Major also came his way in February and March 1997 during a tour as soloist with the Orchestre de Lille.

In his career as a solo pianist, Peter Waters has worked with some renowned orchestras in performances of some highly demanding contemporary piano recitals by twentieth century composers. Among others, Alfred Schnittke with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Aribert Reimann with the Munich Chamber Orchestra at Expo 2000 in Hannover, and then the highly adventurous "Century Rolls" by John Adams with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

But he has never neglected the "standard" classical concertos either, as his numerous performances of Mozart, for example with the Moscow Philharmonic, also show.

Among his many recordings, his CD with music from John Adams, Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie won Australia's highest distinction for the best classical recording in 1997, which was awarded by ABC Classic FM.

As well as classical music, one of his main interests lies in composing new works that lie between contemporary improvisation, jazz and worldmusic, and in integrating these into recitals. Peter Waters is co-founder of the Treya Quartet, which features, among others, the Sardinian trumpet player Paolo Fresu. Their CDs include the much-heralded "Treya plays Gabriel Fauré" (Divox), and a recording of a performance with Barbara Hendricks on the Swiss TV channel DRS.

Collaboration with Pierre Favre, Fred Frith, Kenny Drew jr. (as piano duo), "Collegium Novum" Zurich, George Crumb, Mauricio Kagel, Sofia Gubaidulina, the Quintetto Zero (with Barbara Balzan, Lucas Niggli, Franco Ambrosetti and Daniel Pezzotti) and the Swiss Chamber Soloists bears witness to the breadth of his musical horizons. In addition, the "Peter Waters Tri O" with Rätus Flisch and Tony Renold has been in existence since 2003.

Among other venues, Peter Waters has played, in some cases more than once, at the following festivals: Lucerne Piano Festival, Bodensee Festival, Barossa Music Festival, Festival d?Auvers, "Time in Jazz" Festival in Berchidda, Sardinia, Mozart-Festival Würzburg, North Sea Festival and at the Expo.02 in Morat, Switzerland.

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