Michael Roll is one of Britain's most distinguished pianists. Born in England, of Viennese parents, he began to play the piano at a very early age, studying with Fanny Waterman. He made his concerto debut with the City of Birmingham Orchestra at the age of ten and his Royal Festival Hall debut at twelve, playing the Schumann Concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting. His success at the first Leeds International Piano Competition in 1963, where he won first prize at the age of 17, led to the start of a career which has taken him all over the world, appearing with such conductors as Barbirolli, Boulez, Giulini, Gergiev, Haitink, Leinsdorf, Masur, Previn, Sanderling and Sawallisch.

He has toured in Japan with the BBC Symphony, and in Europe with the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestras. He appeared at the first Hong Kong Festival with the London Philharmonic and at the Edinburgh Festival with the London Symphony. His American debut was in 1974 with the Boston Symphony and Sir Colin Davis, appearing in Boston and New York.

In recent seasons Michael Roll has appeared in Europe with some of the major British orchestras, as well as with the Swedish Radio, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Residentie and Kirov Orchestras under the batons of Masur, Gergiev, Svetlanov, DePreist and Kamu.

He has given recitals in London, Edinburgh, New York, Milan, Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden and appeared at leading international festivals such as Aldeburgh, Bath, Edinburgh, Granada, Hong Kong, Vienna, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and the Promenade concerts. He also holds a Professorship at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen.

His 3 CD recordings of the Beethoven Piano Concertos with the RPO under Howard Shelley for Tring Records were highly praised by the critics.

Engagements in recent seasons have led Michael Roll to the United States, Australia and New Zealand, as well as to major European engagements in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom. He made successful debuts in Hamburg with Andrey Boreyko, and in Geneva and Lausanne with the Suisse Romande and Pinchas Steinberg. This season includes his debut with the Dallas Symphony, conducted by Andrey Boreyko, appearances with the Duisburg Philharmonic and Jonathan Darlington, with the Taipei Symphony and Janos Furst, and 2 return visits to the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester.

Mr Roll is married to the Bulgarian pianist Juliana Markova. They have a 23 year old son Maximilian.

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