About this Artist

Now in the fourth decade of an illustrious international career, MISHA DICHTER traces his musical heritage to the two great piano traditions of the 20th century: the Russian Romantic School personified by Rosina Lhévinne, his mentor at the Juilliard School, and the German Classical style that was passed on to him by Aube Tzerko, a pupil of Artur Schnabel.

Dichter reveals this dual legacy in his solo recitals and appearances with virtually all of the world's major orchestras, performing the repertoire of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky, as well as music from the central German-Viennese repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. An active chamber musician, Dichter frequently performs works for two pianos and piano four-hands with his wife, pianist Cipa Dichter, and has collaborated with most of the world's finest string players.

His vast discography on the Philips, RCA, and MusicMasters labels ranges from Handel to Gershwin. A noted exponent of Liszt's piano works, Dichter was honored in 1998 with the "Grand Prix International du Disque Liszt," presented for his recording on a Philips compact disc of Liszt piano transcriptions.

Dichter was born in Shanghai in 1945, his Polish parents having fled Poland at the outbreak of World War II. He moved with his family to Los Angeles at the age of two. He studied piano with Aube Tzerko and composition with Leonard Stein prior to attending Juilliard. Dichter's triumph, at age 20, in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow launched an international career that began with debuts at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony and with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Dichter makes his home in New York with his wife, Cipa.