"Pianist Per Tengstrand may come as close to embodying Liszt, at least in his performance and appearance, as any musician working today." —Michael Muckian, Madison Capital Times "Fearsome technique and the ability to blaze through a score without trepidation." — Washington Post Per Tengstrand is rapidly establishing himself as one of today's most exciting pianists. He has been described by the Washington Post as "technically resplendent, powerful, intuitively secure," and by the New York Times as "a superb Swedish pianist" whose recital "was rewarding, both for its unusual programming and for his eloquent, technically polished performances". Tengstrand is the subject of a highly acclaimed Swedish documentary entitled Solisten (The Soloist), which was featured at the International Festival of Cinema and Technology in New York City. In 2005, he was decorated by King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden with the Royal Medal Litteris et Artibus for outstanding service to the arts, the youngest recipient ever to be so honored. In 2007-08, Per Tengstrand performs the Schumann Piano Concerto with the West Shore Symphony Orchestra and returns in recital to the Essex Winter Series, in addition to engagements in Sweden. Tengstrand's 2006-07 season included performances of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap Festival under festival conductor Emil de Cou; a series of all-Beethoven recitals throughout Sweden; Wilhelm Stenhammar's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Residentie Orkest in den Haag under Neeme Jarvi; and a Mozart piano concerto with the Royal Philharmonic in Stockholm under Leonard Slatkin. Other performances included the Emperor Concerto with Mobile Symphony, Schumann's Piano Concerto with Southwest Florida Symphony, and the Strauss Burleske and Liszt Malediction with Madison Symphony under Edo de Waart, as well as recitals in the United States. An advocate of Scandinavian repertoire, Tengstrand inaugurated the Nordic Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia with a performance of Stenhammar's Piano Concerto No. 1. He has played the concerto in Vienna's famous Musikverein with the Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra, under music director Kristjan Jarvi; with the New Jersey Symphony, for the NJSO's Scandinavian Festival under Neeme Jarvi; with the Malmo Symphony; at the Tubin Festival in Tallinn with the Estonian National Symphony; and at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm. He also played Stenhammar's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Nordic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen, followed by performances on tour in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong under the baton of Susanna Malkki. At the invitation of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Tengstrand performed Salonen's Dichotomie in the Stockholm Concert Hall, and twice at the Victor Borge Hall in New York. Per Tengstrand regularly performs with leading Scandinavian orchestras in Gothenberg, Malmo, Helsingborg, Stockholm, Tapiola, and with the Huarod Chamber Orchestra and Swedish Radio Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the Orchestre National de France, French Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra National de Lille, National Symphony of Taiwan, Singapore Symphony, New Japan, and Osaka Philharmonic Orchestras. He has given recitals in Europe in such prestigious venues as Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Zurich's Tonhalle, Paris' Salle Gaveau and the Nice Opera House, as well as in Geneva, Bordeaux, Bergen, Norway, the Montpellier Festival, Poland's Chopin Festival and Tokyo's Suntory Hall. He has recorded a solo CD for ProPiano of Glazunov's The Seasons, and his Konzertwalzer (a world premiere). Tengstrand and pianist Shan-shan Sun make up the Tengstrand-Sun Piano Duo, which has enjoyed great success following their first prize at the 2003 Murray Dranoff International Two-Piano Competition. They have received acclaim for their concerts in the U.S. and throughout Sweden where they have toured extensively. They have released three CDs on the Mindfeel label. Mr. Tengstrand has received numerous honors and awards, including first prize at the 1997 Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Geneva competition in 1996. He was a Laureate of the Paris International Long-Thibaud Competition in 1995. He was recipient of the 1997 Anders Wall Foundation Scholarship, and was awarded the 1999 Musician Award by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Swedish-born, he studied in Geneva, Paris and Malmö, under Dominique Weber, Romuald Sztern, Dominique Merlet and Hans Pålsson. While at the Paris Conservatory he received the Premier Prix and the Prix Spécial du Jury, and at the Geneva Conservatory he was awarded the Prix de Virtuosité. Per Tengstrand has served as a juror for the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Princess Astrid Music Prize in Oslo, and as Chairman of the Jury in the Scandinavian Steinway Competition. He is the artistic director of the Helsingborg Piano Festival, the Giresta Piano Festival in Sweden and the New Nordic Music Festival at Scandinavia House in New York City. Mr. Tengstrand makes his home in Princeton, New Jersey.