Linda Bustani
Brazil
A leading South American pianist with an international career, Linda Bustani studied under Arnaldo Estrella in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Winner of the Vianna da Mota International Competition in Lisbon at just age 15 – and previously a winner at the national competitions of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro – Linda Bustani was invited by Iakov Zak to work under his guidance at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, where she also studied with Elisso Virsaladze.
Prizes ensued at the International Competitions of Bratislava and Rio de Janeiro, and Linda Bustani’s international career effectively took off after she took part in the Leeds International Piano Festival, in the UK Following came engagements to perform concerts and recitals in Portugal, the Netherlands (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Belgium, the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia), Russia, Ukraine and Georgia (then the USSR), Scotland, United Kingdom, Japan, Hungary, USA and Latin America. She has played with the New Philharmonia, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Welsh, BBC Scottish, Hallé, Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Petrobras Pró Música and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP). The conductors she has played with include Simon Rattle, Charles Groves, William Tausky, Anatoli Fistoulari, Louis Frémaux, Okko Kamu, Gunther Herbig, John Neschling, Isaac Karabitchevsky, Eleazar de Carvalho, Roberto Duarte, Henrique Morelenbaum, Alceo Bocchino, Roberto Tibiriçá and Ligia Amadio. In 2003, Linda Bustani won the Carlos Gomes Prize (Brazil) as “the best pianist of the year” award.