David Helfgott

Helfgott worked across classical pianist, musician, instrumentalist and pianist. The registers place that work in classical music. This article rests on 60 catalogued compositions, 8 issued recordings and 12 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

David Helfgott studied at Royal College of Music and Mount Lawley Senior High School. Training under Alice Carrard is recorded. The recorded working language is Australian English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Elias Peter Helfgott and Cyril Smith are recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Bellingen and Perth. Employment is recorded with West Australian Opera. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctorate.

• Name — David Helfgott • Born — 19 May 1947 • Birthplace — Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Occupation — Pianist

Helfgott was born in Melbourne to Polish Jewish parents Rachel (née Granek) and Elias Peter Helfgott. He won the state final of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition.

The awards he won at the Royal College of Music included the Dannreuther Prize for Best Concerto Performance, for his performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, and the Marmaduke Barton Prize. During his time in London, he began showing more definite manifestations of schizoaffective disorder. He returned to Perth in 1970. The following year, he married Hungarian Jewish immigrant Claire Papp, who had four children. He worked as a rehearsal pianist for the West Australian Opera. In 1983, his brother Les Helfgott found him a job working at a Perth wine bar called Riccardo's. The co-owner of the bar was a doctor, Chris Reynolds, who played a significant part in Helfgott's rehabilitation and also introduced him to Gillian Murray, whom Helfgott married in 1984.

Helfgott was the subject of the 1996 film Shine, which dealt with the pianist's formative years and struggle with mental illness. Helfgott was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush (adult), Noah Taylor (teenager) and Alex Rafalowicz (child). Rush won numerous accolades for his performance, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Helfgott's brother Les has described the portrayal of their father in both Shine and in Gillian Helfgott's biography as "all outright lies". David Helfgott's first wife Claire Papp has also said that Peter Helfgott was "quite badly maligned" in the film. In a letter to the editor of Limelight, published in the September 2013 edition, Margaret and Les Helfgott refer to certain claims made in an article in the August 2013 edition and state that "there was no estrangement from members of Helfgott's family following his return to Australia. On the contrary, he moved straight back into the family home, and was cared for by our family. Dad was not 'overbearing', and his main objection to David's going abroad was his concern for his son's welfare."

Helfgott generally prefers to perform Romantic music, mostly Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and Rimsky-Korsakov. However, his recordings and performances, especially that of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, have been criticized as "pallid, erratic and incoherent." Of the two commercial recordings released by RCA, the American journal Fanfare Magazine was critical not only of Helfgott himself, but also of his producers, who were "marketing Helfgott's pain." The British magazine Gramophone was similarly scathing about the exploitative nature of their issue, which, the magazine said, falsely marketed Helfgott as an "unsung genius". On stage, Helfgott is known for his unusual platform manner. In 1997, critic Anthony Tommasini noted that Helfgott "stares into the hall and renders a nonstop commentary of grunts, groans and mutterings". Of a 1997 Helfgott recital in New Zealand, critic Denis Dutton wrote, "If, as Goethe claimed, architecture is frozen music, David Helfgott is the musician who finally proves the converse: that music can also be melted architecture – a structureless rubble of notes." Helfgott played piano in the Silverchair song "Emotion Sickness". Helfgott tours Australia annually and plays a small number of recitals in other countries. His 2015 European tour was the subject of a documentary, Hello, I Am David!

Helfgott lives in The Promised Land, a valley near Bellingen in New South Wales. His second wife Gillian died in 2022, aged 90. In a 2016 interview, Gillian stated that Helfgott "has been misdiagnosed for decades", does not have schizophrenia, and had recently been diagnosed with autism.

List of albums, with Australian chart positions • Title — Album details — Peak chart positions • AUS • David Helfgott — * Released: 1991 * Format: CD * Label: — – • David Helfgott Plays Liszt — * Released: 1994 * Format: CD * Label: Rap Productions (RAPCD 190547–2) — – • Rachmaninov The Last Romantic — * Released: 1996 * Format: CD * Label: BMG Classics (74321 40378 2) — 40 • Shine (soundtrack) — * Released: August 1996 * Format: CD * Label: Philips (454 710 2) — 14 • Brilliantissimo — * Released: April 1997 * Format: CD * Label: BMG Classics (74321 46725 2) — 40 • Brave New World — * Released: August 1998 * Format: CD * Label: BMG Classics (74321 57813 2) — 90 • Pianissimo — * Released: 2009 * Format: CD, Digital * Label: Helfgott (2010-01) — – • With Love — * Released: 2010 * Format: CD, Digital * Label: Helfgott (2010-02) — – • Rach 3 (with Rhodri Clarke) — * Released: September 2018 * Format: CD, Digital * Label: 972235 — –

David Helfgott is recorded with the occupation classical pianist. Classed in the genre classical music. Established in Library of Congress under n97014267. Established in Discogs under 1004606. Established in FAST under 387409. Recorded as having studied at Royal College of Music and Mount Lawley Senior High School. Helfgott studied at Royal College of Music and Mount Lawley Senior High School.