Post 5: (free or themed post) Claudio Arrau

 Claudio Arrau is (for me) the best Chilean pianist of all time, and one of the best in the world. He was born in Chillan, he was the son of a doctor and a pianist, he was exceptional from a very young age, when he was 4 years old he could play Beethoven, at 5 he played his first concert in Chillán. Later he debuted in Santiago at the age of 6, a year later he played in Buenos Aires and when he turned 11 he played in Berlin, Germany.

He received a scholarship from the Chilean government to study in Germany and he went with his whole family. When he was 16 years old he won the "Liszt prize", this award had been declared "desert" for 45 years, Arrau won it again the following year, when he was 17 years old. It is really impressive!

At the age of 18 he returned to Chile, at that time he was already an international level pianist, at the age of 20 he went on tour to the United States and played as a soloist in the most important orchestras in the country, and was the first pianist IN THE WORLD in playing the entire Bach harpsichord work, and the entire piano work of Mozar, Weber, Schubert and Beethoven (THAT IS A LOT)

I could go on naming each of the impressive things Arrau did in his life, but it's a long list. Sometimes I think that this man was a super human, nobody has been like him until now.