In 1989 Ian Fountain became the youngest winner of the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv at the age of 19.
Since that time he has performed extensively throughout Europe, the USA, the UK and the Far East, with orchestras such as the London Symphony and Sir Colin Davis, the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, and the Czech Philharmonic and Jiri Belohlavek. He has also performed with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Halle, CBSO, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Singapore Symphony and Utah Symphony amongst many others. In Moscow he was invited to open the 1992/3 season of the Moscow Conservatoire and in Poland he marked the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death by playing both Chopin Concertos in Krakow.
As recitalist, he has performed in major centres such as New York, Chicago, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Jerusalem. He is a regular guest of international festivals such as Prague Spring, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Enescu (Bucharest) and Kuhmo.
As an avid Chamber-Music player, he enjoys many long-standing collaborations with musicians such as David Geringas, Ulf Hoelscher, and the Mandelring and Emperor Quartets, performing in concerts and festivals throughout Europe, Japan and Korea. He has also recently embarked on some performances as conductor, in particular directing from the keyboard.
This season’s performances include concerts with the Hungarian Philharmonic and Zoltan Kocsis in Budapest, the Enescu Philharmonic and Cristian Mandeal in Bucharest, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Jarvi in Japan, the London Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and the Armenian Philharmonic in Yerevan.
Ian Fountain has made several critically acclaimed recordings, of 20th Century Piano Sonatas for EMI, Beethoven Diabelli Variations (CRD), and complete works of Rachmaninov, Beethoven and Mendelssohn for Haenssler Classics with David Geringas.
In 2008 he has collaborated in the forthcoming edition of Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Cello to be published by Henle Verlag, Munich.
Since 2001, Ian Fountain has been a piano professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
