Biographie

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in South Africa, Ammiel Bushakevitz began playing piano at the age of four. A citizen of the Israel, the USA and South Africa, he is based in Berlin and Paris, performing regularly across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. His concerts include venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Shanghai’s Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Konzerthaus. He appears at the festivals of, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Bayreuth, Lucerne, Cape Town, Milan, Heidelberg, Vancouver, Tel-Aviv, Melbourne, Beijing and Montreal; the Festival Pontino di Latina in Rome, the Casals Festival in Spain and the Schubertiades of Schwarzenberg, Hohenems, Vilabertran and Jerusalem.

 

Ammiel studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig and the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique in Paris, under Phillip Moll and Alfred Brendel. One of the last private students of the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ammiel was invited in 2011 by Fischer-Dieskau to accompany his masterclasses at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade in Austria. Ammiel is recognized as a leading song pianist of his generation, performing with such singers as Dame Felicity Lott, Christian Gerhaher and Thomas Hampson. He also received notable mentorship from Brigitte Fassbaender, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Quasthoff and Matthias Goerne. 

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He is a top prize-winner at numerous competitions, including the Wigmore Hall Competition in London, the Schubert Competition in Stuttgart, the Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, the Hugo Wolf Competition in Stuttgart, the Prix International Pro Musicis in Paris as well as the Concours Léopold Bellan. He is especially noted for his interpretation of the works of Franz Schubert, for which he received the 2011 International Schubert Institute Award in Vienna. Ammiel’s other awards include the European Union Commission Award, the DAAD International Scholarship for Artists, the Prix de la Ville de Lausanne, Switzerland and the city of Leipzig's Richard Wagner Award. Ammiel is a laureate of over a dozen international music competitions, as a solo pianist, vocal accompanist and chamber musician.

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In 2013 Ammiel released his debut solo CD, recorded in the Salle Fleuret in Paris. His discography includes numerous award-winning albums as a soloist and song pianist for BIS (Sweden), Pentatone (Holland), Hänssler Classics (Germany), SOLFA (Spain), Naxos (Hong Kong) and Gramola (Austria). His recording of Schubert’s Moments musicaux was used as the soundtrack of the 2017 Austrian film, Gwendolyn. Upcoming releases will appear on labels including Berlin Classics, Alpha and Harmonia Mundi.

 

Passionate about education, Ammiel has presented masterclasses at the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the Sichuan Conservatory (China), the Beijing National Opera, the Victoria University National School of Music (New Zealand), the University of Colorado (USA), the Heidelberg International Lied Centre (Germany) and the Jerusalem Music Academy (Israel). He dedicates time to mentoring aspiring young musicians in developing countries, and has offered music workshops and benefit concerts in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, China, Mexico and Morocco.

 

Ammiel is an alumnus of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), a member of the Société des Arts Sciences et Lettres de Paris, a member of the International Hugo Wolf Academy and an honorary member of the International Richard Wagner Society. In 2014 Ammiel was named Edison Fellow of the British Library, London. In addition to his musical activities, he is artistic director of the International Arts Association, Les Voix d’Orphée, in Paris, France.