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About the Author

Matthew Koumis (b.1964) is a pianist, educator and author. He won a scholarship to Oxford University and went on to the Royal College of Music, London where he was awarded a First in piano. He continued his studies at the Liszt Academy, Budapest. He has performed over 50 solo recitals across Europe, has broadcast many times on Radio Suisse Romande, and recorded a CD of the piano music of Iannis Constantinidis. He has published more than 20 piano-related books, is a Fellow of the Royal Schools of Music, and lives in Asia.

About the Illustrator

Ioustini Giannakopoulou was born in Athens, Greece. She holds a BA in Graphic Design and an MA in Visual Communication and Interactive Media – Classical Typography and Illustration from the University of Derby, UK. She has been working for Creative Agencies, Advertising and Publishing Companies since 1995 as art director and illustrator. For the past 20 years she has specialised in educational books for children.

About Potamos Music Books

Potamos was founded by Matthew Koumis and Jo-chieh Yao (author and translator) in 2015 in order to publish the music books of Matthew Koumis. The name Potamos means ‘river’ in Greek. Angie Pereira (in Venezuela) is the assistant for the digital editions.

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Pianists I heard live in recital

I have had the privilege of hearing many great pianists in recital and concerto (mostly in London) Vladimir Horowitz, Emil Gilels, Martha Argerich, Sviatoslav Richter, Shura Cherkassky, Claudio Arrau, Radu Lupu, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Krystian Zimerman, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Wilhelm Kempff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Annie Fischer, Vlado Perlemuter, Alicia de Larrocha, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Arkadi Volodos, Ivo Pogorelich, Daniel Barenboim, Maurizio Pollini, Ingrid Haebler, Lazar Berman, Grigory Sokolov, Zoltan Kocsis, Roberto Szidon, Deszo Ranki, Pascal Roge, Bernard d’Ascoli, Jean Philippe Collard, François-René Duchâble, Muza Rubackyte, Konstantin Lifschitz, Fou Ts’ong, Yvonne Loriod, Evgeny Kissin, Charles Rosen, Nikolai Demidenko, Murray Perahia, Richard Goode, Benjamin Grosvenor, John Ogdon, France Clidat, Andrei Gavrilov, Yefim Bronfman, Ewa Poblocka, Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida, Stephen Kovacevich, Andras Schiff, Peter Frankl, Ronald Smith, Emmanuel Ax, Nikolai Demidenko, Barry Douglas, Stephen Hough, Cyprien Katsaris, Lilya Zilberstein, Rafael Orozco, Cecile Ousset, Youri Egorov, Radoslav Kvapil, Boris Berezovsky, Piotr Anderszewski

My teachers

I would like to express my deep gratitude and respect to all my piano teachers over the years, who showed patience and generosity! I have become increasingly conscious of the great lineage of pianist / pedagogues, which is very much alive all around the world today.

Mary Peri

My first teacher in London was Mary Peri, a student of Vlado Perlemuter. Perlemuter studied with Ravel. Perlemuter's teachers included Moszkowski, who played a 2-piano recital with Liszt.

Albert Ferber

In London I studied privately with the Swiss pianist Albert Ferber. Ferber studied with Walter Gieseking and Marguerite Long (who worked with Debussy); turned pages for Ravel; and played to Rachmaninoff.

Muza Rubackyte

For several years I have studied privately in Paris with the wonderful Muza Rubackyte, whose lessons I heartily recommend. Rubackyte studied with Yakov Flier (1912-1977) and Bella Davidovitch (b.1928). Both teachers studied with Konstantin Igumnov (1873-1948); Igumnov studied with Alexander Siloti (1863-1945); Siloti studied with Liszt.

Charis Kladaki

I won a scholarship from the Greek government to study Greek music in Athens, where I studied with Charis Kladaki. Kladaki studied with Edwin Fischer. Fischer was a student of Martin Krause, a student of Liszt.

Roberto Szidon

I took 5 masterclasses with the Brazilian pianist Roberto Szidon.