DEBUSSY PRELUDES
TAMAS VESMAS, PIANO

Tamas Vesmas was born in Romania. He began studying piano and composition under Professor Ella Philipp at the age of ten and his career as a soloist began at the age of fourteen with recitals and appearances with leading Symphony Orchestras throughout Romania.
He continued his studies at the Bucharest Music Academy where he became a pupil of Florica Musicescu, Dinu Lipatti¹s teacher. He further studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Lefébure and Monique de la Bruchollerie. Tamas Vesmas won numerous prizes in International Piano Competitions and in 1968, he was awarded the Gold Medal in the International Claude Debussy Competition in Paris. As a concert pianist, soloist and conductor, Tamas Vesmas has performed in many of the world's major venues, including in London, the Queen Elizabeth Hall's South Bank Piano Recital Series and the Wigmore Hall, and in Paris, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées and the Salle Chopin-Pleyel. He has performed with conductors such as Simon Rattle, Jean-Claude Casadessus, Janos Fürst, Harry Blech, Kurt Redel, Carlo Zecchi, Mark Elder, and Erich Bergel. His extensive chamber music experience has included partnership with Nathan Milstein, György Pauk, Boris Bermann, Peter Frankl, Heinz Holliger, Boris Belkin, Mark Lubotsky and Alexander Ivashkin.

Tamas Vesmas is currently Professor of Piano at the School of Music, University of Auckland. During periodic return visits to Europe, Prof. Vesmas gives recitals and conducts regular masterclasses, most recently being invited to perform in Romania as soloist and conductor with the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bucharest and other orchestras. He regularly gives masterclasses also in Japan and the USA.