Earl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tradition. Considered by many to be the last of the great Romantic pianists, this eminent musician is known internationally as one of the last in a long line of great virtuoso pianist / composers. Often heralded as a super virtuoso and one of the Twentieth Century's greatest pianists, Earl Wild has been a legendary figure, performing throughout the world for over eight decades. Major recognition is something Mr. Wild has received numerous times in his long career. He was included in the Philips Records series entitled The Great Pianists of the 20th Century with a double disc devoted exclusively to piano transcriptions. He has been featured in TIME Magazine on two separate occasions; the most recent was in December of 2000 honoring his eighty-fifth birthday. One of only a handful of living pianists to merit an entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Mr. Wild is therein described as a pianist whose technique, "Is able to encompass even the most difficult virtuoso works with apparent ease."

Earl Wild was born on November 26, 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a child his parents would often play opera overtures (such as the one from Bellini's Norma) on their Edison phonograph. As the recordings were playing, the three yearold Earl would go to the family piano, reach up to the keyboard, find the exact notes, and play along in the same key. At this early age, he displayed the rare gift of absolute pitch. This and other feats labeled him as a child prodigy and led immediately to piano lessons.

At six, he had a fluent technique and could read music easily. Before his twelfth birthday, he was accepted as a pupil of the famous teacher Selmar Janson, who had studied with Eugen d'Albert (1864-1932) and Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924), both students of the great virtuoso pianist / composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886). He was then placed into a program for artistically gifted young people at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech (the Institute of Technology) - now Carnegie Mellon University. Enrolled throughout Junior High, High School, and College, he graduated from Carnegie Tech in 1937. By nineteen, he was a concert hall veteran.

Mr. Wild's other teachers included the great Dutch pianist Egon Petri (1881- 1962), who was a student of Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924); the distinguished French pianist Paul Doguereau (1909-2000), who was a pupil of Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), Marguerite Long (1874-1966), studied the works of Gabriel Faure and Claude Debussy with Jean Roger-Ducasse (1873-1954 - a pupil of Faure's), and was a friend and protege of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Mr. Wild also studied with Helene Barere, the wife of the famous Russian pianist, Simon Barere (1896-1951), and studied with Volya Cossack, a pupil of Isidore Philippe (1863- 1958), who had studied with Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921).

As a teenager, Mr. Wild had already composed many works and piano transcriptions as well as arrangements for chamber orchestra that were regularly performed on the local radio station. He was invited at the age of twelve to perform on radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh (the first radio station in the United States). He made such an impression that he was asked to work for the station on a regular basis for the next eight years. Mr. Wild was only fourteen when he was hired to play Piano and Celeste in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Otto Klemperer.
With immense hands, absolute pitch, graceful stage presence, and an uncanny facility as a sight-reader and improviser, Earl Wild was well equipped for a lifelong career in music.