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One of the greatest living musicians Alfred Brendel talks to former director of the BBC Proms, now managing director of the Barbican, Sir Nicholas Kenyon about his life and career. Brendel is a pianist world-renowned for his interpretations of the great composers Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Liszt. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic and spent his childhood travelling through Yugoslavia and Austria. Although he had his first piano lessons at the age of six, he had little formal training and regards his unconventional musical background as an advantage.

Brendel slowly built his career to the point where his discography was the most extensive of any pianist and his performances were guaranteed to sell out across the world. He has won countless awards for his recording, and his musical awards include the Léonie Sonning Prize, the Siemens Prize and the Prix Venezia. Now retired from the stage, he is able to pass on his experience in master classes, readings and lectures. He has also recently published A Pianist’s A-Z: A Piano Lover’s Reader, which he says ‘distils what, at my advanced age, I feel able to say about music, musicians, and matters of my pianistic profession’, and from which he will read during the event.