In September 2006, during a tour in Argentina, Daniel Rivera received the title of Artista distinguido e Ambasciatore della Musica from the Municipal Council of the city of Rosario, to honour his artistic career on a national level as well as abroad. In 2005, he celebrated 30 years of career in pianism and was awarded the Tasto d’argento prize, instituted by the International Pianistic Festival Echos, and reserved for pianists that distinguish themselves in the international concert scene.
Daniel Rivera was born in 1952 in Rosario (Argentina), in a family strictly connected to the music world: his mother was an opera singer, his father Hector was a pianist and a composer (well renowned in Argentina and in the United States in the late fifties) and his aunt Alicia was also a pianist. Together they helped him to discover the piano at an early age.
He went to Italy in 1973 with a scholarship obtained by winning the V. Scaramuzza prize, organized by the National Fund for Arts and the Mozarteum Argentino. In Buenos Aires he attended a master class held by Sergio Lorenzi. After obtaining the Italian Diploma cum laude and with a mention of honor at the Cherubini conservatory in Florence, he completed his studies with Alessandro Specchi in Florence and with Ludwig Hoffman in Munich.
Within the next few years Daniel Rivera participated in several international competitions such as the Queen Elisabeth, F. Busoni, the Dino Ciani, the Ettore Pozzoli, the Rina Sala Gallo, the Cata Monti (prize devoted to contemporary music), the Beethoven in Wien, the Liszt-Bartok in Budapest and the Paloma O’Shea Competition in Santander. He was awarded two second places and three first absolute prizes and a vast number of special mentions.
Daniel Rivera has performed in the most important theatres in Italy and abroad, among which the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Sala Philarmonia in Kiev, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Park Musik Hall in Dallas and the Musikverein in Wien. His repertoire consists of more than 50 concerts for piano and orchestra, performed in tours with Italian and foreign orchestras, such as the 2nd concert by Bartok, the 2nd by Rachmaninoff with the l’Orchestra Sinfonica Nacional of Buenos Aires, the 3rd by Rachmaninoff with the Kiev State Symphonic Orchestra, the 2nd by Prokofieff with the Filarmonica del Teatro Colon, the 3rd by Prokofieff with the Dallas Simphony Orchestra and the 2nd by Chopin with the l’Orchestra della Radio Televisione Svizzera Italiana.
He has been the first pianist in Italy, after Carlo Vidusso, to have performed live the complete series of the Liszt’s Trascendental Studies (IRCO 282), that he later recorded with Irco Cosentino in Buenos Aires, in additional to other Cds with Lisztian transcriptions (IRCO 228).
Daniel Rivera’s recordings include Beethoven’s Hammerklaviersonate, Aroldo in Italia together with Aldo Bennici (Ricordi,) as well as his live recording of Boulez’s Premiere Sonate. He also recorded for RAI (National Italian Television), RTSI, for Suisse Romande (absolute premiere of Sonata n.2 of Rodrigo Asturias) and for the Colonia Radio.
In 2002, at the “Festival di Musica dall’Europa” in Volpedo (AL), Daniel Rivera presented, in a world premiere performance, the transcription of the Sagra della Primavera by Stravinsky, a transcription made by Sam Raphiling that he personally revised and completed. This unique performance obtained a great success during tours in South America and Italy. Martha Argerich invited this transcription at the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano. In 2007 he performed at the Festival International of Music Paiz in Guatemala with Guatemala’s Symphonic Orchestra, and played Rodrigo Asturias’s Suite Voyage au monde des enfants. In 2009 he started a piano duo with the italian pianist Gabriele Baldocci, with whom he recorded a release of Russian music in Buenos Aires.
Currently, Daniel Rivera teaches at the Istituto di Alta Cultura Musicale P. Mascagni in Livorno, where he holds a piano faculty chair. From january 2009 until 2010, he was the Artistic Director of the Franz Liszt Competition in Grottamare.