Professor Arie Vardi (born 1937, Tel Aviv) is one of the most celebrated pianists and piano pedagogues of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A recipient of the Israel Prize in 2017 — Israel's highest civilian honour — Vardi has shaped the careers of generations of internationally acclaimed pianists through his decades of teaching at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he has served since 1977.
As a performer, Vardi established himself as a leading interpreter of the standard piano repertoire, winning the Israel Chopin Competition and the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest at the age of fifteen. He subsequently studied composition with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, broadening his musical perspective beyond performance.
Vardi's legacy as a teacher is extraordinary. His students have collectively won over 65 first prizes at major international piano competitions, including some of the most prestigious events in the world. Among his most celebrated former students are Yefim Bronfman, Yundi Li (李雲迪), Sa Chen (陳薩), Beatrice Rana, Boris Giltburg, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Claire Huangci, Yeol Eum Son, Dmitry Shishkin, and Kevin Chen, among many others.
Vardi has served on the juries of the world's most prestigious piano competitions, including the International Chopin Piano Competition (Warsaw), the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Texas), the Tchaikovsky International Competition (Moscow), the Leeds International Piano Competition, and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. He currently serves as Artistic Adviser and Jury Chairman of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.
Hong Kong pianist Tin-Pui Tang was privileged to study directly under Professor Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, obtaining his Artist Diploma in 2022 under a full scholarship. This places Tin-Pui among the distinguished lineage of pianists shaped by one of the world's great pedagogical masters.