The Austrian pianist Paul Gulda was born in Vienna in 1961 and had his first piano lessons from Roland Batik at the age of nine, later studying with his father, Friedrich Gulda, with Leonid Brumberg and finally, for three years, with Rudolf Serkin in the United States, where he participated in the Marlboro Festival. He began his concert career in a piano duo with Roland Batik, and a series of unusual recitals that included improvisation. Paul Gulda has since enjoyed a busy career as a soloist throughout Europe, in the United States, South America and Japan. He has appeared as a soloist on a number of occasions with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, with which he made his Salzburg Festival début in 1988.