Martha Argerich (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾta aɾxeˈɾitʃ]; Eastern Catalan: [əɾʒəˈɾik]; born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine and Swiss classical concert pianist.

[1][2] Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argerich gave her debut concert at the age of eight before receiving further piano training in Europe.

In 1960, she had made her first commercial recording, which included works by Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, Prokofiev, and Liszt; it received critical acclaim upon its release in 1961.

She has since recorded works by composers including Ginastera, Rachmaninoff and Schumann, to whom she describes feeling a particular connection.

Argerich has also promoted younger pianists, both through her annual festival and through her appearances as a member of the jury at international competitions.

[19] According to Đặng Thái Sơn, the eventual winner, Argerich made the "beautiful gesture" of sending a public telegram to the judging committee to congratulate him, after learning the final results.

[20] She has supported several artists, including Gabriela Montero, Mauricio Vallina, Sergio Tiempo, Roberto Carnevale, Gabriele Baldocci, and Christopher Falzone.

[21][22][23] Argerich is the president of the International Piano Academy Lake Como and performs annually at the Lugano Festival.

Her playing is still as dazzling, as frighteningly precise, as it has always been; her ability to spin gossamer threads of melody as matchless as ever.

[30] Argerich's first marriage was to composer-conductor Robert Chen, (Chinese: 陈亮声; pinyin: Chén Liàngshēng)[31] with whom she had her first child (violinist Lyda Chen-Argerich).

[42] However, she stated in a 2019 interview that she is strongly against capital punishment and admires the French politician Robert Badinter, who enacted the abolition of the death penalty in France.

[43] Her friend pianist Daniel Barenboim stated that when he contacted the Argentine president Mauricio Macri in 2016, asking him to accept Syrian refugees into the country, it was also on behalf of Argerich.

After treatment, the cancer went into remission, but it recurred in 1995 and metastasized to her lungs, pancreas, liver, brain, and lymph nodes.