Maurizio Pollini (born January 5, 1942) is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Benjamin, Roberto Carnevale, Gianluca Cascioli and Bruno Maderna. Works composed for him include Luigi Nono’s ….. sofferte onde serene …, Giacomo Manzoni’s Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse and Salvatore Sciarrino’s Fifth Sonata.
Michel Block (January 12, 1937, Antwerp–March 4, 2003, Bloomington, Indiana) was born of French parents in Antwerp, Belgium. He was a renowned pianist and winner of the 1962 Leventritt Competition. As a child, he moved with his parents to Mexico, where his grandfather had settled in 1870. Block studied piano in that country and later at the Juilliard School in New York City.
In one of the most famous of all competition incidents, Block won the Arthur Rubinstein Prize in Warsaw at the 1960 International Chopin Piano Competition. As a contestant in that year’s competition, he was only placed eleventh. Outraged with this result, Arthur Rubinstein created a special prize bearing his name on the spot, which carried with it the money corresponding to the second prize, and awarded it to Block.