Maurizio Pollino dies at 82: The celebrated pianist and grammy-winning musician has died

The celebrated pianist and grammy-winning musician Maurizio Pollini has died at the age of 82. One of the great pianists of our time has died. Maurizio Pollini was admired the world over for his deep, committed pianism and devotion to the composers he loved. Maurizio Pollini lived in Milan and his death was announced by Milan’s La Scala opera house. 

At the time of writing, no cause of death has been revealed, but Maurizio Pollini was forced to cancel a concert at the Salzburg Festival in 2022 because of heart problems.

Maurizio Pollini was born into a musical family as his father Gino Pollini was also a pianist. Maurizio, who was born in Milan on Jan. 5, 1942, started playing piano as a child and won many competitions in Europe. 

It wasn’t only Maurizio Pollini’s father who was musical. His mother Renata Melotti also played the piano and sang. Maurizio Pollini said in a previous interview that “I grew up in a house with art and artists. Old works and modern works coexisted together as part of life.” Maurizio’s uncle, Fausto Melotti, was considered a pioneer of abstract sculpture. 

Maurizio Pollini won the International Chopin Piano Competition at 18, and was the youngest foreign pianist among a group of 89 contestants.

Classic FM reported that “In the 1960s and 1970s, he found international fame and became regarded as one of the leading interpreters of the music of Beethoven and Chopin. As a pianist, he always brought out those experimental, innovative aspects of any work he played. He extensively recorded the works of these two composers over the past 40 years, producing what many regard as definitive performances.”