Lionel Party, a Chilean harpsichordist and teacher, studied with Elena Waiss at the Escuela Moderna de Música. After graduating, he received a scholarship to study piano with Rosl Schmid and harpsichord with Hedwig Bilgram at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. In 1970, Lionel Party enrolled at the Julliard School of Music in New York to study harpsichord with Albert Fuller, obtaining his Doctorate in Musical Arts in 1976. He also won first prize for harpsichord at the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition in 1972 (Leipzig).
Lionel Party has given recitals in the most prestigious concert halls in New York, Boston and Washington, among others. He has performed on numerous occasions with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Waverly Consort, and the Solisti New York.
Abroad, he has performed with the English Chamber Orchestra, the German BachSolista Orchestra, the German Chamber Orchestra of the South, the Collegium Instrumentale of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and has given recitals in cities in Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Chile.
On the occasion of J.S. Bach’s 300th anniversary, Lionel Party performed concertos for one, two, three and four harpsichords with the Handel and Haydn Society at Symphony Hall in Boston.
He was a member of several chamber music ensembles and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1983 to 2011.
Lionel Party has made numerous recordings for the Desmar, Musical Heritage Society, Smithsonian, Titanic, Olufsen and Orion labels. He has also presented concerts broadcast on RAI in Rome, East and West German radio networks, and American public radio and television.