A Brief Biography

ntonio Iturrioz was born in Cuba and came to the United States in 1962. He played his first concert at 9, and at age 15 made his orchestral debut playing the Liszt First Piano Concerto. His teachers include his father, Pablo Iturrioz, Francisco de Hoyos (a pupil of Gyorgi Sandor), Bernardo Segall who studied with Alexander Siloti, who was a pupil of Liszt, Aube Tzerko and Julian White. He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Young Musicians Foundation Tushinsky Memorial Scholarship Award and the Dewars Young Artists Award., and has taken master classes with Byron Janis and Andre Watts. An injury to his right hand interrupted his career for several years, during which time he developed a formidable repertoire of left hand piano music, including the complete Chopin-Godowsky transcriptions.

Mr. Iturrioz has an extensive repertoire that ranges from Scarlatti to present day composers, and plays the complete piano works of Robert Schumann. He continues to perform in the United States and Europe, and has three CD's available at www.artists.com: A Waterfall of Romance, featuring Bellini's "Norma" arranged by Franz Liszt; The Art of the Left Hand (cd audio); and Davidsbundler, Op.6 by Schumann, with the Liszt "Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude".

Antonio has been teaching privately for 30 years and maintains an active teaching clientele in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys in Northern California. Interested potential students can reach him at 707-869-1905.

Reviews

Iturrioz is a remarkable pianist with an extensive repertoire. When he played Wagner's Liebestod using only his left hand, the audience was quite simply breathless.
--St. Helena Star, St. Helena, California.

Schumann's music is essentially poetry and Iturrioz showed how to make the poetry speak. The light he shed on all these works made the unfamiliar easily accessible and gave old friends deeper meaning. Even the nostalgia and poignancy of the well-known Kinderscenen took on a wonderful freshness.
--Pacific Prelude Magazine, Monterey, California.

Iturrioz gave a clear, logical and singing performance of the Brahms left hand transcription of the Bach Chaconne.
-- Pajaronian, Watsonville, California.

In Liszt's Dante Sonata, Iturrioz tossed off the pyrotechnics effortlessly while never flaunting his mastery of the keyboard. The two Schumann works were the high point of the afternoon. Playing the opening melody of the Arabesque with childlike simplicity, Iturrioz maintained this mood throughout never becoming over sentimental. His reverence for the music was contagious and the audience sat spellbound.
-- Pine Cone, Carmel, California.

A successful recital by the Cuban-American pianist Antonio Iturrioz was a particularly huge success. The skill and musicianship, especially in works written for the left hand, greatly impressed the audience.
--Musikos Tonos Magazine, Athens, Greece

In the 'Adagio from Wind Serenade (K.375)' arranged for the left hand by Wittgenstein, Iturrioz kept the flow of the music upbeat, precise and pastoral, with occasional near waves of his right hand as it fought its own personal battle to remain on his knee.
--The Pacifica Tribune, Pacifica, CA