Eduardus Halim
Professor, Chair of Piano Studies, New York University
Eduardus Halim, the inaugural holder of the Sascha Gorodnitzki Chair in Piano Studies at NYU Steinhardt, has been hailed as a pianist of transcendent virtuosity and distinctive artistry. Recognized for his superb technique, beautiful tone, and poetic interpretations, he has appeared with such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Russian National Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors including Kees Bakels, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Comissiona, Andreas Delfs, JoAnn Falletta, Hans Graf, Gunter Herbig, Jahja Ling, Jesús López-Cobos, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Spivakov, Mario Venzago and David Zinman. He has given recitals at Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and has been a featured guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Brooklyn’s renowned Bargemusic. He has appeared at major festivals including Ravinia, Grant Park, Newport, Stockholm, the Baltimore Symphony Summer Musicfest, the Britt Festival, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, the Minnesota Orchestra’s Viennese Sommerfest and Wyoming’s Grand Teton Festival. In 1997 he made a triumphant recital debut at Wigmore Hall in London, earning an invitation from the BBC to return in 1998 for a broadcast from the hall. A recipient of many honors and distinctions, he was a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1989 and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1996.
Born in Bandung, Indonesia of Chinese parents, Professor Halim began his piano studies at age 6 with Alfons Becalel, and continued his musical training with pedagogues P.I. Ibrahim and Stephen Sulungan. He played the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in public at age 11 and made his recital debut when he was 13. At 19, he entered the Juilliard School on a full scholarship, studying with Sascha Gorodnitzki and Rudolf Firkusny. As a young soloist, Professor Halim’s bold interpretations of the Romantic repertoire caught the attention of Harold C. Schonberg, author of The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present and former chief music critic of the New York Times. In an unprecedented turn of events, Schonberg contacted Vladimir Horowitz about the young pianist’s great potential, and a subsequent introduction by music writer David Dubal led Horowitz to accept Proferssor Halim as his student. The remarkable artistic exchange between the two pianists is documented in the chapter “Last Pupil,” in Schonberg’s book, Horowitz: His Life and Music (Simon and Schuster, 1992).
Professor Halim’s first recording, “Presenting Eduardus Halim: A Program of Piano Transcriptions,” was released on the Arabesque label to wide critical acclaim. John Ardoin of The Dallas Morning News wrote that “[Halim] has staked out an imposing claim as a Romantic pianist who has the fingers for virtuosity and the imagination for poetry…Mr. Halim does more than meet the challenges placed in his way. He surmounts them with aristocratic ease and remarkable expressiveness.” Fanfare Magazine wrote: “Winged by an effortless technique, Halim is relaxed, spontaneous, almost casual in this superhumanly demanding fare…Enthusiastically recommended!”
Professor Halim’s second CD release, a Chopin disc for Reservoir Studio Productions, also drew rave reviews. “Anyone who misses Vladimir Horowitz would be wise to investigate this all-Chopin recital by Eduardus Halim, the last of the master’s students,” writes Stephen Wigler. “He is a born Chopinist…Rather than call him his master’s disciple, it would be better to call him his successor.” This disc was named one of the top classical instrumental CDs of 2000 by Amazon.com/newCDnews.com. Professor Halim’s latest recording for Reservoir Studio Productions features two works by Enrique Granados—the piano suite Goyescas, based on the paintings of Francisco Goya and subtitled “Los Majos Enamorados” (“the dashing lovers”), and the seven Valses Poéticos. When Mr. Halim performed Goyescas as part of his Wigmore Hall recital in 1997, The Independent wrote that he “squeezed them for the last drop of voluptuous abandon.” The American Record Guide praises this recording with “How good is Eduardus Halim? In the Goyescas and Valses Poeticos, absolutely magnificent! … Halim continues to amaze by the rightness of his inflections and the subtlety of his rich sound palette … This deserves a standing ovation.”
Professor Halim’s distinctive approach to the piano is matched by a charismatic personality. He has captured the attention of the media and been profiled by The New York Times (Arts & Leisure), The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Piano Quarterly and Clavier.