Martha Argerich, piano legend, gives up on her next two dates for health reasons

Argentine piano legend Martha Argerich has canceled "for health reasons" two concerts scheduled for August 12 and 15, respectively in Germany and Switzerland, organizers said on Wednesday.

Aged 82, Martha Argerich, born in Buenos Aires and naturalized Swiss, was to give two concerts under the direction of her compatriot, the famous conductor Daniel Barenboim, in Cologne (western Germany) then at the Lucerne festival . She will be replaced by the German of Russian origin Igor Levit, for these two evenings with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a formation founded by Daniel Barenboim in 1999, which brings together Israeli and Arab musicians. On the other hand, the presence of Martha Argerich is maintained at the concerts scheduled for August 17 and 19, respectively at the Salzburg festival (Austria) and in Berlin, always with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, according to the website of this orchestra.

Nicknamed the "Tigress of the Piano", Argerich established herself as one of the greatest pianists of her time. Child prodigy, she is able from the age of 3 to reproduce a song heard on the piano and gives her first concert with orchestra at 8 years old. She moved to Europe with her family in 1955 where she progressed with the greatest pianists of the continent. In the early 2000s, she had overcome cancer, although in 2017 she had already had to cancel a series of performances for health reasons.

His destiny is reminiscent of that of the Israeli-Argentinian Daniel Barenboim, a phenomenon of music also since his early childhood, pianist prodigy and bulimic conductor. Aged 80, this son of a piano teacher learned to play from the age of 5 and gave his first concert at the age of 7. Suffering from a neurological disease, Barenboim announced in early January his resignation for health reasons from the Berlin Opera, which he had directed for 30 years.