Professional career
Argerich’s performing career began in Argentina. In 1949 she gave her first concerto performance at the age of eight at the Auditorio Radio El Mundo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 the following year, under the direction of Scaramuzza. Both concerts were broadcast on the National Radio of Argentina. Argerich gave additional concerts as part of a radio concert series for soloists and appeared in a series which featured Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
In 1952, she made her debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic under the direction of Washington Castro. At eleven years old, Argerich toured the country twice.
In 1960, Argerich had made her first commercial recording, which included works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev and Liszt. It received critical acclaim upon its release in 1961. She has since recorded works by composers including Ginastera, Rachmaninoff and Schumann, with whom she describes feeling a particular connection.
She gained international attention when she won the VII International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1965, at age 24. On January 16, 1966, she made her American debut at the Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall performing Schuman's Op. 17, Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7 and various works by Chopin.
Argerich has often remarked in interviews of feeling "lonely" on stage during solo performances. Since the 1980s, she has staged few solo performances, concentrating instead on concertos and chamber music, and collaborating with instrumentalists in sonatas.
Argerich has also promoted younger pianists through her annual festival and through her appearances as a member of the jury at international competitions. She has supported several artists, including Gabriela Montero, Mauricio Vallina, Sergio Tiempo, Roberto Carnevale, Gabriele Baldocci, and Christopher Falzone.
Argerich is the president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs annually at the Lugano Festival. She has also created and has served as a General Director of the Argerich Music Festival and Encounter in Beppu, Japan, since 1996.
Although she maintains a private life, Argerich has been described as one of the greatest contemporary pianists. Based on a survey of 100 professional pianists, the BBC Music Magazine ranked Argerich among the top 21 pianists of all time. The Gramophone Magazine included Argerich among the top 50 pianists on record for her recording of Chopin Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2
with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit (Warner Classics).
