Born in Zurich, Rico Gulda grew up in Munich, where his mother, Yuko, gave him his first piano lessons. He went on to study there with Ludwig Hoffmann and graduated with Noel Flores in Vienna. In addition, he trained as a cultural manager at the University of Vienna. Particular highlights of his career as a pianist include concerts in memory of his father, Friedrich Gulda, with Martha Argerich (in Japan, Munich, Warsaw and Lugano) and with his brother Paul at the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Vienna Philharmonic. He has taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in Seoul, and has served as a visiting lecturer in cultural management at universities in Vienna, Budapest, Würzburg and Krems. He regularly serves as a juror at major competitions (Long-Thibaud, Busoni, Cliburn, and as chairman of the Concours Géza Anda 2024) and is a board member of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and on the advisory board of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation. As Artistic Director of the Vienna Konzerthaus, Rico Gulda programmed 600 events per season until 2025. In March 2025, he became the general director of the Esterhazy Private Foundations in Eisenstadt, where he is responsible for the development, planning and supervision of all the Esterhazy Foundations’ own artistic events, including several festivals, the classic.esterhazy concert season, the St. Margarethen Opera Festival, and the concerts of the resident orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.