Freddy Kempf
Freddy Kempf was born in Croydon. He was educated at The Junior Kings School and St Edmund’s School, Canterbury and the Royal Academy of Music.Taking up the piano at the age of four under Ronald Smith, Kempf first caught the attention of British concertgoers four years later when he played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.[ The child virtuoso was shortly invited to Germany to repeat his performance. In 1987, Kempf won the first National Mozart Competition in England and in 1992, was named BBC Young Musician of the Year for his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1996 which led to his New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall.
Freddy Kempf is considered one of today’s most successful pianists, appearing in sold-out concert halls all over the world. With his unusually broad repertoire, he has steadily built a reputation as both a risk-taker and a sensitive and profound artist. Freddy has worked with renowned conductors such as Järvi, Dutoit, Sawallisch, Sanderling, Chailly, Ashkenazy, Petrenko, Oramo, Davis, Belohlavek, Temirkanov, Weller, Altinoglu, Dausgaard and has performed with, among others. with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, La Scala Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires, Tonhalle Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic. Highlights of recent years include Freddy’s debut at the BBC Proms and extensive Asian concert tours to South Korea (Seoul Arts Centre), Singapore (Esplanade Concert Hall) and Taiwan.
A welcome guest, he was engaged as conductor and pianist for a tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and invited by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra for 12 concerts within England. “Kempf is a pianist in a million… the incredible definition of Rachmaninov’s inner filigree which emerges all the clearer for a refusal to use the sustaining pedal to blur the sound… his colossal but perfect weight simply stuns.” (The Arts Desk). In the 2019/2020 season Freddy Kempf travelled to Japan again, giving solo recitals in Kanagawa, Tokyo and Osaka as well as concerts with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra (Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto).
