Pianist

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A pianist is a person who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.

A performing classical pianist usually starts playing piano at a very young age, some as early as three years old. Many well-known classical composers were also virtuoso pianists: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Carl Maria von Weber, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, Ervin Nyíregyházi, Anton Rubinstein, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich.

Most western forms of music can make use of the piano. Consequently, pianists have a wide variety of repertoire and styles to choose from, including jazz, classical music, and all sorts of popular music.

Below is a list of well-known or influential contemporary pianists of different genres:

Classical pianists

• List of classical pianists
• :Category: Classical pianists by nationality

Pop and rock music pianists

• List of Pop and Rock pianists

Jazz pianists

• List of jazz pianists

Blues pianists

• List of blues musicians
• List of boogie woogie musicians

Country pianists

• List of country music performers

Gospel pianists

• List of gospel musicians

New age pianists

• List of new age and new instrumental musicians

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Last updated on Wednesday February 27, 2008 at 05:08:32 PST (GMT -0800)
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