A pianist ( /ˈpiːənɨst/ PEE-ə-nist) is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.

Choice of genres[link]

Most forms of Western music can make use of the piano. Consequently, pianists have a wide variety of repertoire and styles to choose from, including jazz, classical music, and all sorts of popular music.

A performing classical pianist usually starts playing piano at a very young age.

A single listing of pianists in all genres would be impractical, given the multitude of musicians noted for their performances on the instrument. Below are links to lists of well-known or influential pianists divided by genres:

Classical composers[link]

Many well-known classical composers were also virtuoso pianists. The following is an incomplete list of such musicians.

• Isaac Albéniz
• Charles-Valentin Alkan
• Béla Bartók
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• Leonard Bernstein
• Johannes Brahms
• Ferruccio Busoni
• Frédéric Chopin
• Claude Debussy
• Franz Liszt
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Sergei Prokofiev
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Anton Rubinstein
• Robert Schumann
• Alexander Scriabin
• Dmitri Shostakovich
• Carl Maria von Weber

See also[link]

Classical pianists[link]

• List of classical pianists (recorded)
• List of classical pianists
• List of classical piano duos (performers)

Pop and rock music pianists[link]

• List of pop and rock pianists

Jazz pianists[link]

• List of jazz pianists

Blues pianists[link]

• List of blues musicians
• List of boogie woogie musicians

Gospel pianists[link]

• List of gospel musicians

New Age pianists[link]

• List of New Age music artists

Adrien Brody
Brody at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Detachment
Born	(1973-04-14) April 14, 1973 (age 39) Woodhaven, Queens, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1988–present

Adrien Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor and film producer. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002), for which he became the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor at age 29. Brody is also the only American actor to receive the French César Award.

Early life[link]

Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the son of Sylvia Plachy, a photojournalist, and Elliot Brody, a retired history professor and painter.^[1] Brody's father is of Polish Jewish descent; Brody's mother – who was raised Catholic – was born in Budapest, Hungary, the daughter of a Catholic Hungarian aristocrat father and a Czech Jewish mother.^[2][3][4] Brody was raised "without a strong connection to" Judaism or Catholicism.^[5] As a child, he performed magic shows at children's birthday parties as "The Amazing Adrien".^[6] He attended the I.S. 145 Joseph Pulitzer middle school and New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (famous as the inspiration for television's Fame). His parents enrolled him in acting classes to distance him from the dangerous children with whom he associated^{[citation needed]}. He attended summer camp at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.^[7] Brody attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook before transferring to Queens College for a semester.

Career[link]

Taking acting classes as a youth, by age thirteen, he appeared in an Off-Broadway play and a PBS television film.^[8] Brody hovered on the brink of stardom, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the 1998 film Restaurant and later praise for his roles in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. He received widespread recognition when he was cast as the lead in Roman Polanski's The Pianist (2002). To prepare for the role, Brody withdrew for months, gave up his apartment and his car, was left by his then-girlfriend,^[8] learned how to play Chopin on the piano, and lost 29 lbs (13 kg). The role won him an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 29, the youngest actor ever to win the award, and to date the only winner under the age of 30. He also won a César Award for his performance.

Brody appeared on Saturday Night Live on May 10, 2003, his first TV work, but he was banned from the show after giving an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks for Jamaican reggae musical guest Sean Paul (the show's producer, Lorne Michaels, is notorious for hating unscripted performances). However, the unscripted intro remains in reruns of the episode. Other TV appearances include NBF's The Today Show and on MTV's Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher.

Brody at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

After The Pianist Brody appeared in four very different films. In Dummy (released in 2003 but originally shot in 2000, just prior to his work in The Pianist) he portrayed Steven Schoichet, a socially awkward aspiring ventriloquist in pursuit of a love interest (his employment counsellor). He learned ventriloquism and puppetry for the role (under the tutelage of actor/ventriloquist Alan Semok) convincingly enough to perform all of the voice stunts and puppet manipulation live on set in real time, with no subsequent post dubbing. He played Noah Percy, a mentally disabled young man, in the film The Village, by M. Night Shyamalan, shell-shocked war veteran Jack Starks in The Jacket, writer Jack Driscoll in the 2005 King Kong remake, and father-to-be Peter Whitman in The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson. King Kong was both critical and box office success; it grossed $550 million worldwide and is Brody's most successful film to date in monetary terms. Additionally, Brody played a detective in Hollywoodland. He has also appeared in Diet Coke and Schweppes commercials as well as Tori Amos' music video for "A Sorta Fairytale".

On January 5, 2006, Brody confirmed speculation that he indeed was interested and very willing to play the role of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. However, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. decided instead to cast Heath Ledger in the role.^[9] He was also in talks with Paramount to play Spock in J. J. Abrams Star Trek XI, but it ultimately went to Zachary Quinto.^[10][11] Brody starred with Mark Ruffalo as gentlemen con men in Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, released in May 2009.^[12] Also in 2009 was the box office release of Splice, a science fiction film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. Originally a Sundance film, Splice was adopted by Dark Castle Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Most recently, he played the star role of Royce in Predators (a sequel to the original Predator), directed by Nimród Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez.^[13]

In 2011, Brody starred in a Stella Artois beer ad called "Crying Jean," that premiered right after half-time of the Super Bowl XLV as part of Stella's "She Is a Thing of Beauty” campaign.

On January 16, 2012, Adrien made his runway debut as a model for Prada Men Fall/Winter 2012 show.^[14] Also in January, he was named ambassador for the Gillette Fusion ProGuide Styler which the company is scheduled to market the following month.^[15]

Personal life[link]

In 1992, Brody was seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident in which he flew over a car and crashed head-first into a crosswalk.^[16] He spent months recuperating. He has broken his nose three times doing stunts; the most recent was during the filming of Summer of Sam.^[17]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adrien Brody

• Adrien Brody at the Internet Movie Database
• Adrien Brody at AllRovi

Awards for Adrien Brody v t e Academy Award for Best Actor (2001–present) Denzel Washington (2001) Adrien Brody (2002) Sean Penn (2003) Jamie Foxx (2004) Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) Forest Whitaker (2006) Daniel Day-Lewis (2007) Sean Penn (2008) Jeff Bridges (2009) Colin Firth (2010) Jean Dujardin (2011) Complete list (1928–1940) (1941–1960) (1961–1980) (1981–2000) (2001–2020) v t e César Award for Best Actor 1976 Philippe Noiret · 1977 Michel Galabru · 1978 Jean Rochefort · 1979 Michel Serrault · 1980 Claude Brasseur · 1981 Gérard Depardieu · 1982 Michel Serrault · 1983 Philippe Léotard · 1984 Coluche · 1985 Alain Delon · 1986 Christophe Lambert · 1987 Daniel Auteuil · 1988 Richard Bohringer · 1989 Jean-Paul Belmondo · 1990 Philippe Noiret · 1991 Gérard Depardieu · 1992 Jacques Dutronc · 1993 Claude Rich · 1994 Pierre Arditi · 1995 Gérard Lanvin · 1996 Michel Serrault · 1997 Philippe Torreton · 1998 André Dussollier · 1999 Jacques Villeret · 2000 Daniel Auteuil · 2001 Sergi López · 2002 Michel Bouquet · 2003 Adrien Brody · 2004 Omar Sharif · 2005 Mathieu Amalric · 2006 Michel Bouquet · 2007 François Cluzet · 2008 Mathieu Amalric · 2009 Vincent Cassel · 2010 Tahar Rahim · 2011 Éric Elmosnino · 2012 Omar Sy

Kanon Wakeshima
Kanon Wakeshima performing at Japan Expo 2009
Background information
Born	(1988-06-28) June 28, 1988 (age 23)
Origin	Tokyo
Genres	Neoclassical dark wave, dark ambient, baroque rock
Occupations	Singer, musician, cellist
Instruments	Vocals, cello
Years active	2008–present
Labels	DefStar Records, Maru Music
Website	www.kanonweb.jp

Kanon Wakeshima (分島 花音, Wakeshima Kanon^?, born June 28, 1988)^{[dubious – discuss]} is a Japanese singer and cellist.^[1] Produced by musician and fashion designer Mana, Wakeshima debuted under the DefStar Records label on May 28, 2008 with the single "Still Doll", the ending theme for the anime adaptation of the manga series Vampire Knight. She also provided the voice for a maid that appears in the eighth episode of the series. Wakeshima's second single "Suna no Oshiro", released on November 12, 2008, was used as the ending theme for the series' second season (subtitled Guilty).^[2]

She was nominated for a Best Newcomer award for 2008 in the fourth annual Shōjo Beat Music Awards, nominees of which are determined by surveying "record companies, music journalists, music experts, and music fans".^[1]

Biography[link]

Before her birth, Wakeshima's music-loving parents wished that she would be a musician. At the age of three, she began learning cello, marking her entry into the world of music. In junior high school she formed her own ensemble group. At the age of fifteen, she transited from her former classical ensembles into playing in the baroque section. Appearing in a variety of recitals and concerts throughout her school years, she began writing her own music and combining singing with her cello playing at the age of sixteen. As she transited from junior high school to high school, she began writing her own music and singing. She gave her first vocal performances during a high school festival.^[3]

Wakeshima auditioned at Sony Music Entertainment as a singer, originally not intending to include her cello playing with her demo tape, but later changed her mind after experimenting with performing with the piano. She became a finalist at the audition, contracting with the Sony subsidiary DefStar Records and debuting on May 28, 2008 with her first single, "Still Doll.^[4] The single was chosen as the ending theme for the first season of the anime adaptation of Vampire Knight.^[2][5][6]

She uses cellos, one for performing, one for music videos and one for recording. Wakeshima has given each cello a name. The white cello is known as "Mikazuki-san", which means "crescent moon" and this is the cello she normally uses during live performances. The red cello is known as "Nanachie-san", which means "wisdom" used in most music videos. According to Wakeshima, Nanachie-san is very hard to play but she manages. Her third cello is a brown cello called "Yaeharu-san", which means "multi-layered spring". Yaeharu-san is very special to Wakeshima as she has had it since middle school, and it is the one she practices on and records with. Currently, she has a new silver cello named "Momotose."^[7]

She has recently formed a duo with An Cafe's bassist Kanon, called Kanon×Kanon. The duo sang the second theme song for the anime adaptation of Shiki, called "Calendula Requiem".

Kanon×Kanon recently made a song "Koi no Doutei" in their newest single, which was later made the OP (opening song) for the new anime "30-sai no Hoken Taiiku" that came out the spring of 2011.

Overseas Performances[link]

Kanon has done numerous performances overseas, including being invited to Japan Expo 2009 in Paris, France and Otakon 2009 in Baltimore, MD. Kanon has also done short concerts in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She was also invited to AM²^[8] 2011, an anime convention in Anaheim, where she had both, a solo and a KanonXKanon concert. Following AM2 Kanon also appeared at Hyper Japan 2011 in London in July and in Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong 2011.

Kanon is also scheduled to perform in various cities in Europe at the end of 2011 as Kanon×Kanon^[9]

The Europe Tour venues and dates are as follows:

04.11.11 Moscow Concert Hall- Moscow / Russia

05.11.11 Zal Ozhidania Club - St.Petersburg / Russia

07.11.11 Tavastia - Helsinki / Finland

09.11.11 Club 202 - Budapest / Hungary

11.11.11 Columbia Club - Berlin / Germany

12.11.11 Zeche - Bochum / Germany

14.11.11 De Helling - Utrecht / Netherlands

15.11.11 Le Marche Gare - Lyon / France

16.11.11 Divan du Monde - Paris / France

18.11.11 O2 Academy Islington - London / GB^[10]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Shinshoku Dolce (侵食ドルチェ^?, "Sweetness Violation", 2009)^[2]
• Lolitawork Libretto (少女仕掛けのリブレット～LOLITAWORK LIBRETTO～, Shōjo Jikake no Riburetto ~LOLITAWORK LIBRETTO~^?, "A Libretto on What Makes a Girl Work", 2010)^[2]

Singles[link]

• "Still Doll" (2008)^[2] Oricon Singles chart peak rank 33^[11]
• "Suna no Oshiro" (砂のお城^?, "Sand Castle", 2008)^[2] Oricon Singles chart peak rank 39^[12]
• "Tōmei no Kagi" (透明の鍵^?, "Transparent Key", 2009) (digital download, theme song of the online game Avalon no Kagi)^[13]

As KanonxKanon[link]

• "Calendula Requiem" (カレンデュラ レクイエム, 2010)^[14]
• "Koi no Doutei" (2011)^[15]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} North, Dale (February 2009). "Fourth Annual Shojo Beat Music Awards". Shojo Beat (Viz Media) 5 (2): 315–216. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "ディスコグラフィ" (in Japanese). Sony Music Online. http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Arch/DF/kanonwakeshima/m_disco.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
3. ^ Sugie, Yuki. "Artist Profile: Kanon Wakeshima". Sony Music. http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/kanonwakeshima/profile/eng.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
4. ^ Takahashi, Szkoropad (translator). "Kanon Wakeshima Special Feature". CD Japan/Neowing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/jpop/essentials/kanon_wakeshima.html. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
5. ^ "音楽情報サイト" (in Japanese). Hot Express Music Magazine. 2008-03-25. http://www.hotexpress.co.jp/news/080325_kanon/. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
6. ^ "J!-ENT INTERVIEW: Kanon Wakeshima by J!-ENT's Dennis A. Amith". http://www.nt2099.com/J-ENT/INTERVIEWS/kanon-wakeshima/kanonwakeshima.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 
7. ^ Wakeshima, Kanon. "The Lolita Revolution". The Lolita Revolution. http://ameblo.jp/wakeshima. Retrieved 9 September 2011. 
8. ^ "AM2 Convention". AM2 Convention. AM2Con. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM%C2%B2. Retrieved 8 July 2011. 
9. ^ Wakeshima, Kanon. "Kanon Wakeshima". http://www.kanonweb.jp/main.html. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
10. ^ Kanon, Kanon. "kanonxkanon Information". http://www.kanonkanon.net/info/index.html. Retrieved 25 October 2011. 
11. ^ "Still Doll, Kanon Wakeshima" (in Japanese). Oricon. http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/762114/1/. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
12. ^ "Suna No Oshiro, Kanon Wakeshima" (in Japanese). Oricon. http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/release/d/786316/1/. Retrieved 2009-01-20. 
13. ^ "フランス・アメリカを熱狂させたチェロ・シンガー、分島花音が新曲発表" (in Japanese). Livedoor News. Livedoor. 2009-09-17. http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/4353599/. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
14. ^ "kanonxkanon" (in Japanese). Sony Music Online. http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Arch/DF/kanon_kanon/index.html. Retrieved 2010-09-06. 
15. ^ "koi no dotei". http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=DFCL-1774. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kanon Wakeshima

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Kanon Wakeshima at Maru Music
• Kanon Wakeshima Interview at Anime Dream
• Kanon Wakeshima Interview for Purple SKY
• Getting ready for the first UK performance from gothic Lolita icon Kanon Wakeshima