Jörg Demus

Jörg Demus (born December 2, 1928, in St. Pölten) is an Austrian pianist. At the age of six, Demus received his first piano lessons. Five years later, at the age of 11, he entered the Vienna Academy of Music, studying piano and conducting. He graduated in 1945, then 17 years old. His debut as a pianist, however, came when he was still a student: at the age of 14, Demus played in the Brahms-Saal for the prestigious Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. He has been active as a Lied accompanist and a chamber music partner, appearing with such singers as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elly Ameling and Peter Schreier and string players like Josef Suk and Antonio Janigro. He has performed widely as a soloist both on modern and on historical instruments and has collaborated with Paul Badura-Skoda on the concert platform and in a book on the interpretation of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Demus played Romantic works quite often; he took on the part of accompanist and performed in chamber music ensembles. He received the Mozart Medal of the Mozartgemeinde Wien in 1979. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.