Freddy Kempf

English pianist Freddy Kempf is one of the world’s finest and most sought-after young pianists. He was born in London in 1977 and came to national prominence in 1992 when he became the youngest winner in the history of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition. His first public appearance, however, was at the age of four and a half in a church in Folkestone, England. His award of third prize in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow provoked protests from the audience and an outcry in the Russian press, which proclaimed him ‘the hero of the competition’; his unprecedented popularity with Russian audiences has been reflected in several sold-out concerts and numerous television broadcasts of his performances. His triumphant return visit to Moscow the year following the competition for solo and concerto appearances prompted the headline: ‘Young pianist conquers Moscow’ in the International Herald Tribune.