Biography
Wibi Soerjadi was born in Leiden the Netherlands in 1970. At the age of eleven years he gave his first public performance. He studied with piano pedagogue Bob Brouwer and Professor Jan Wijn. As the youngest graduate piano student, he was 20 years old; he obtained his master as a performer at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He completed his studies ahead of schedule, earning the highest possible marks and graduating with genius recognition.
Soerjadi received lots of prizes during his career; including the first prize at the Princess Christina Concourse in The Hague, the first prize at the National Eurovision Competition for young musicians, the third prize at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition Utrecht, the Elisabeth Evert Price a price for exceptionally talented musicians, Echo Klassik Award of the Deutsche Phono Academy and he was the inaugural winner of the Edison Classical Music Audience Award in the Netherlands. He gave many concerts in prestigious venues at the Netherlands and abroad, among others the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus and Musik Verein in Vienna, Musikhalle Hamburg, Valencia, Verona, Berlin, Beijing, Guan Zhou and the main hall of Carnegie Hall in New York. His Carnegie hall debut was live recorded and this CD was rewarded with a platinum status. He has performed with many leading orchestras including The Hague Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia , Simfonica Orquesta Ciudad de Oviedo, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. With the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Miguel Gomez Martinez, Wibi Soerjadi recorded Sergei Rachmaninov’s second and third concerto. All his CDs and DVDs have been awarded multiple gold and platinum; this is an exceptional achievement in the world of classical music.
By special Invitation, Wibi Soerjadi gave a one-off recital on September 2005 at Disneyland Paris, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Disneyland in California.
In 2006 Wibi Soerjadi celebrated his 25th anniversary as a concert pianist. In that year he was invited to perform works on the historical Liszt Flügel 576 from 1862 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during a Liszt-themed recital ‘The Art of Franz Liszt’. In November 2006 the biography from Mr. Ben Daeter entitled 'Wibi Soerjadi. The Man, The Artist’ was released. On April 2007 Wibi Soerjadi was knighted for his achievements in the Royal Order of Orange Nassau on his estate ‘The Wulperhorst'. On 22 may 2007 Wibi Soerjadi gave a concert in Honour of the president of the Slovak Republic by command of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on the occasion of her state visit. Wibi Soerjadi’s recital was a cultural gift from Her Majesty the Queen to Slovakia. It was the first and only time that a solo artist was given this honour. The following day he gave a master class at the top students of the conservatory in Kosice in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Beatrix.
Wibi Soerjadi composed the Olympic dressage freestyle music ‘Dance of Devotion’ for Olympic dressage champion Anky van Grunsven and her horse Salinero which premiered on December 2007 in London. In the 2008 Olympics she won gold with the composition ‘Dance of Devotion’. Simultaneously Wibi Soerjadi released a CD also called ‘Dance of Devotion’ it was his first CD with solely his own compositions, this rarely happens in classical music. With this album he attracted a new generation of music lovers. Early in 2009, Wibi Soerjadi faced acute sensorineural hearing loss called Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing loss. For a period of time he was unable to give concerts or play the piano. During his period of hearing loss he wrote his nine-part composition ‘Apuleius' Amor & Psyche '. After several months he was able to recover and celebrated his comeback in The Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The national newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, praised his comeback in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw as ‘grand and breathtaking’.
Wibi Soerjadi received a Classic FM Radio award on March 2010. He received the award for his outstanding contribution to make classical music accessible to a wide audience. In November 2010 floriculturist René Klinge named his new butterfly orchid hybrid after Wibi Soerjadi. The white and purple flower was named 'Phalaenopsis Elegant Wibi ' because of its elegant and stylish appearance.
In honour of his 30th anniversary Wibi Soerjadi gave a recital in the legendary Great Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York in January 2011. He received five standing ovations a more than special circumstance in New York. In the same year the composition Amor and Psyche was released on CD and immediately acquired a gold status. In September 2011 his own TV program started called 'Under Wibi's Wings’. In this show six unique pianists were trained by Wibi Soerjadi. The winner won a concert tour with Wibi Soerjadi. In October 2011 Wibi Soerjadi was officially appointed by the Chopard Scheufele family as an Ambassador of the luxury jewellery brand Chopard. He is now one of the four ambassadors in the world, alongside Elton John, Jackie Ickx and José Carreras. In honour of the legendary front man of Queen, Freddy Mercury, Wibi Soerjadi was commissioned to write a virtuoso piano transcription based on the music of Queen. On November 18th 2011 the work was premiered during The Queen Experience at Gelredome in Arnhem where an audience of 30,000 people sang along during the rendition. In 2012 Wibi Soerjadi opened the New Year with the concerto no. 1 by Dimitri Shostakovich with Holland Symfonia. Critic Christo Lelie wrote: ‘Soerjadi is a craftsman; he played incredible, with great precision and clarity. Soerjadi managed to shine in the rhythmically complex orchestral party, even where the composer and conductor sometimes made it difficult for him. The difficult piano part went seamlessly and ended with a beautiful touché all the while he gave this work a serious undertone. Great class!’ In mid- 2012 Wibi Soerjadi made a concert tour through Indonesia. This visit had a cultural and educational approach. He visited Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya and Solo. He gave several sold-out concerts and master classes to selected piano talents. The winner of Wibi Soerjadi’s piano competition was titled 'best young pianist of Indonesia ' and came to the Netherlands in 2013 for concerts and cultural exchange. In 2012 Wibi Soerjadi celebrated his twenty-year anniversary of performing in the Concertgebouw. His Christmas recitals are the longest tradition in history of a solo artist in the great hall of the Concertgebouw. The anniversary was celebrated with three concerts in the Great Hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. At each concert Soerjadi performed a different program, the three programs together function as a pianistic monograph. Reviewer Bas van Bommel of the highly renowned Dutch newspaper, the NRC, wrote: 'A disarming effect had Mozart 's Ah vous -je Maman dirai a child's piece, which Soerjadi played with a refined touch. The understated humour transformed it into a tasteful gem. Another highlight was Après une lecture de Dante of Franz Liszt. Here Soerjadi elicited a range of sounds to his infernal wing, from terrifying to knock motives and apocalyptic discharges. A more perfect interpretation of this diabolical work one can hardly imagine.'. Bas van Bommel ended: ‘The audience left the hall in a state of euphoria which many a pianist can only dream off.’.
In 2013 Wibi Soerjadi became ambassador for ‘Stichting Spots’. This is a foundation for charity that protects wild cats in Africa from extinction.
March 2014 Wibi Soerjadi performed Prokofiev’s third concerto with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra directed by Steven Asbury. In May this year Soerjadi performed Rachmaninov’s concerto number three with the The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Claus Peter Flor.
In 2015 he wrote his own EDM dance track ‘Undaunted’ and got a number 1 hit status in the iTunes Dance charts. A documentary film about Wibi premiered in Dutch cinemas during the Dutch Film Festival.
In 2016 his book ‘Once Upon A Time…’ a fairytale for piano solo was released.
In 2017 he celebrated the 25th anniversary of his Christmas recitals in the main hall of The Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He worked together with Dutch rap formation SFB on the song Bleed for the Fam and got millions views and streams.
In 2019 he was jury member of the popular Dutch Tv show Superkids.
In 2019 he wrote his unique piano transcription of Rachmaninoff’s second concerto.
In 2019 was the 27th edition of his annual Christmas concert in The Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. It’s the longest tradition in history by a solo artist in this legendary concert hall ever, it’s a record.
On July 31 after his anniversary concert he received a Royal distinction, Officer in the Royal order of Oranje Nassau.
“Soerjadi creates a unique musical ‘scenic landscape’ that few can imitate: various layers from his score are almost visually presented on stage, individually perceptible yet always in complete unity, much like a magician enchanting his audience and partially holding them in a realm outside of reality. The fans brought the house down in applause and praise.”
Peter Schlamilch - De Nieuwe Muze