ROLL, MICHAEL

ROLL, MICHAEL (1946– ), British pianist. Roll was born in Leeds to Viennese parents and studied the piano from the age of six with Fanny Waterman. At 12, he made his debut at the Royal Festival Hall, playing the Schumann concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent. In 1963, the youngest of 88 competitors, Roll won the first Leeds International Piano Competition and thereafter performed with such conductors as Barbirolli, Boulez, Giulini, Gergiev, Haitink, Leinsdorf, Masur, previn , and Sawallisch, in many European cities and in Israel. His American debut occurred in 1974 with the Boston Symphony and Sir Colin Davis, appearing in Boston and New   York. He appeared at leading international festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Edinburgh, Granada, Hong Kong, Vienna, and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr. He holds a professorship at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. His three CD recordings of the Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Howard Shelley were highly praised by critics. (Max Loppert / Israela Stein (2nd ed.)