Martha Argerich
S. Prokofiev and S. Rachmaninov. Concert for two pianos

At 83 years old, Martha Argerich doesn’t enjoy giving interviews, playing solo, or making recordings — understandable on a personal level. For 67 of those years, ever since her victories at the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano in 1957, she has been in the spotlight of the press and public.
Her life story reads like a Hollywood biopic, which will surely be made one day (several documentaries already have). Her background includes the passionate ancestry of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Catalans from Spain, the socialist aspirations of her economist parents, President Perón personally sending the Argerich family to Vienna so the prodigy daughter could study music, her early-career crisis after initial successes, the crystallization of her playing style — bold, vivid, without excess or sentimentality — her monumental success at the 1965 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, a battle with illness and recovery, her marriages, daughters, and legendary beauty and strong character.
She began playing the piano at three and performing on stage at eight. To become a great musician, one must spend long years alone with the instrument. Now, Martha confesses she has spent her life running from loneliness. "Pianist Friedrich Gulda, who taught me so much, told me once ‘you have to learn everything before turning sixteen because later on gets a little stupid!’ At seventeen, I lived the life of some forty-year-old lady... and I found that life sad: I traveled the world but was alone. I was shy, and I still am shy; I think this trait stays with us. But today, I have friends everywhere." For her, music only makes sense when shared — not just with the audience, but with those creating it alongside her.
That’s why out of the 54 concerts Argerich has performed from January to October 2024, from Tokyo to Barcelona, 53 were in duos, ensembles, or with orchestras — only one was solo.
Martha’s regular stage partners include violinist Gidon Kremer and cellist Mischa Maisky — both from her native region. At the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, she will be joined by Japanese pianist Akane Sakai, her musical partner for the past decade. Their rapport is so strong they even co-organize the annual Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg.
What makes Martha Argerich an icon of modern classical music? It’s not just her remarkable virtuosity — technical mastery is no longer a novelty. Renowned conductor Antonio Pappano says listeners intuitively understand that Argerich doesn’t just perform music — she is music itself. "First, pay attention to her energy. It's incredible, but this tempo, this emotional intensity, doesn't prevent her from conveying every nuance of the musical texture. Very few pianists can do that. She can’t be caged or constrained; she cannot be made to submit. She embodies absolute freedom of spirit. And then there's her class, that old-fashioned elegance... It's as if she belongs to another era... It’s breathtaking."
She has won three Grammy Awards, holds honorary orders from Japan, France, the USA, Italy, and of course, Argentina, and has her own festivals (besides Hamburg, also in Lugano and Buenos Aires). She’s been inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame and is showered with epithets like "divine," "magical," and "phenomenal."
She has nothing left to prove. At the Latvian National Opera and Ballet, Martha Argerich will do what she always does: create music in front of a full house.