Krystian Zimerman (born December 5, 1956) is a Polish pianist, also a Swiss citizen since 1981, who began piano studies at age five under the encouragement of his pianist father and later trained at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice under Andrzej Jasiński. He won the Beethoven International Piano Competition in 1973 and, at 18, the International Chopin Piano Competition in 1975, which launched his international career. He was mentored by Arthur Rubinstein from the mid-1970s until Rubinstein’s death in 1982, and has taught piano at the Basel Music Academy since 1996. In 1999 he founded the Polish Festival Orchestra.

Zimerman is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of his generation, renowned especially for interpretations of Chopin, Brahms, and Beethoven, and for meticulous, self-directed control over his instruments and recordings.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krystian_Zimerman