Tamas Erdi was born on 23rd November 1979 in Budapest, Hungary. He began playing the piano at age of five. He was eight years old, when he first appeared on a concert podium, and since then has regularly given concerts, played at festivals and been featured on television programs.

Tamas lost his eyesight as a result of an oxygen overdose in a defective incubator. Erika Becht and Zsuzsa Kollár, Tamas’ instructors, use a unique method called “the structural method” to teach Tamas play the piano, whereby he virtually “recomposes” the music he is being introduced to. This process has enabled him to learn many piano scores as well as 14 concertos without the use of eyesight or sheet music.

In 1989, Tamas was accepted by the Music Academy in Vienna in Imola Joó’s class. At 15, he played a Mozart piano concerto at the prestigious Budapest Spring Festival, in the Hungarian Parliament with leading conductor Tamás Vásáry. At 17, he won an international piano competition in Moscow.

His two CDs (also released in Canada), featuring works by Mozart under the baton of Tamás Vásáry, have been hugely successful. From the age of 15, Tamás studied piano under the Tamas Vásáry’s guidance. He played under various famous conductors in Hungary and abroad. Having heard Tamás’ rendering of Mozart, Leon Fleisher, the world-famous professor offered him a scholarship at the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music. The four years spent with Leon Fleisher opened a new chapter in Tamás’ life. He completed his studies in both Vienna and in Toronto, receiving an artists’ diploma in piano. The American Record Guide compared his performing of Mozart to the performance of some of the world’s most outstanding pianists.

Tamás gave successful concerts in Florida, Boston, Washington D.C., Portland, Chicago, at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and across Canada. He also played with Tamas Vásáry at London Barbican Center (Mozart piano concerto for two pianos).He recently performed with Orchestras, like Iceland Symphony in Reykjavik (Rico Saccani), the Hungarian Radio Orchestra (Tamás Vásáry), the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (Uri Mayer) and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra in Germany. He also played with The Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Barry Wordsworth, the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hungarian National Orchestra with Zoltan Kocsis.

29 year-old Tamás Érdi has made concert appearances in 23 countries so far. His recordings include two orchestral CDs (Mozart), three solo piano CDs (Schubert, Chopin, and Bartók-Liszt) and a DVD entitled “Tamas and friends from three continents” featuring a live concert with his former American classmates and friends at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall of the Palace in Budapest.

In 2008, Tamás had the chance to introduce his talent to Her Excellency the Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Canada’s Governor General, who invited him to play the very special piano that Glenn Gould left to Rideau Hall on his next visit to Ottawa. Tamás gave a concert at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to honour the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and at Castel Gandolfo in Italy, the summer residence of the Pope.