Menachem Pressler’s career was launched after he won first prize at the Debussy International Piano Competition in San Francisco in 1946. His Carnegie Hall debut subsequently followed, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy.
Mr. Pressler’s debut as a chamber musician was at the 1955 Berkshire Festival, where he appeared as the pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, with Daniel Guilet, violin, and Bernard Greenhouse, cello. Although he was a junior partner in the Beaux Arts Trio at the outset, Pressler ultimately became the only original member of the trio to perform with the group through its entire existence.
He has given concerts as a solo pianist, as well, and I have particularly enjoyed his playing of piano works by Franz Schubert.
Here is Mr. Pressler in music by Debussy:
