Richard Goode

Richard Goode was born in New York on 1 June 1943 and became one of the most distinguished American pianists of his generation in the classical repertoire. His training combined lessons with Nadia Reisenberg at the Mannes College with those of Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute. He made his debut in 1962 as part of the Young Concert Artists series in New York and in 1973 won first prize at the Clara Haskil Competition.

His career was soon established in the United States, but European recognition came more slowly: it was not until the late 1980s that he began to perform regularly in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Since then his activity has gradually expanded to South America, Australia, East Asia and Europe. As a chamber musician he worked with Jacqueline du Pré in 1965 and 1966, recorded recitals with clarinettist Richard Stolzman and soprano Dawn Upshaw, and took part in festivals such as Marlboro and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto. He was a founding member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and in 1980 received the Avery Fisher Prize.

His recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas, of solo piano works by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms, and of Mozart's concertos earned him wide international acclaim. Goode also premiered commissioned works, such as Robert Helps's Piano Concerto no. 2 and George Perle's Ballade, which marks him as a performer committed to the music of his time.