“A great pianist”, with a power of “communicating emotions comparable to that of Wilhelm Kempff.”
Claude Gingras, La Presse, Montreal
The Wolfsonian Museum, Miami Beach
9:30 pm
Tickets available online and at the box office, from one hour before the concert starts
Mehdi Ghazi is an Algerian-Canadian pianist acclaimed for the sensitivity, depth, and expressive refinement of his performances. Described by The New York Times as a “sensitive pianist” and praised by La Presse for communicating emotion with an artistry “reminiscent of Wilhelm Kempff,” he has established himself as a compelling soloist, chamber musician, and educator.
A laureate of the 2020 Campillos International Piano Competition and a medalist at the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Ghazi also received Second Prize and the Audience Award at the 2018 Orford Music Award. In 2015, CBC named him one of Canada’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30.”
Born in Algeria to a non-musical family, Ghazi began exploring the piano and its repertoire out of curiosity and genuine interest for the instrument at the age of ten, with no intention of pursuing a musical career. It was only at seventeen, after moving alone to Canada in search of formal musical training, that he enrolled at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where his education as a pianist began. He would go on to earn numerous national awards and scholarships, including the Sylva Gelber Award, First Prize at the Festival de musique classique du Bas-Richelieu, and First Prize at the Canadian Music Competition.
Ghazi has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America and Europe, performing in distinguished venues including UNESCO’s Great Hall in Paris. His artistic collaborations have included conductors Daniel Barenboim, Yoav Talmi, John Morris Russell, as well as musicians such as Conrad Tao, Valeriy Sokolov, Aleksey Shadrin, Julie Nasrallah, and the Montréal wind ensemble Pentaèdre. In 2010, he was invited by the Glenn Gould Foundation to perform before the Governor General of Canada during a tribute to Glenn Gould.
Ghazi graduated with highest distinction from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and The Glenn Gould School, where he studied with John Perry, André Laplante, Marc Durand, and Jean Saulnier. He later completed a Doctorate in Piano Performance at the Université de Montréal under the guidance of Jean Saulnier.
In addition to his concert career, Ghazi is Professor of Piano at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and Lecturer in Piano Performance at the Université de Montréal. He also teaches at Cégep de Joliette and Collège Lionel-Groulx, while remaining active as a soloist and chamber musician.
