Born in Zurich as the youngest son to a family of musicians, Rico Gulda grew up in Munich, where he studied the piano with his mother Yuko and with legendary German virtuoso Ludwig Hoffmann. At the Vienna Music University, he then studied with Noel Flores, whilst also working with his father, the pianist-composer Friedrich Gulda. Postgraduate training as an academic cultural manager at the University of Vienna followed.

Initially embarking on a career as pianist, he performed with international orchestras such as the New Japan Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, orchestras in Vienna, Milan, Brussels, Warsaw, Brno and with musicians such as Matthias Goerne, Michael Schade and Renaud Capuçon. Hightlights were concerts (in memory of his father) with Martha Argerich in Japan, Munich, Warsaw and Lugano and with his brother Paul, as well as with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Vienna Konzerthaus. The concert in Japan was released on DVD. He published numerous CDs, amongst them “Music for Sisi’s Wedding”, with works from the “Huldigungskassette”, a chest of scores of Viennese composers for the imperial wedding year 1854, which were performed for the first time, as well as a Schubert CD with works for piano four hands with Christopher Hinterhuber.

Mr Gulda taught piano at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and in Seoul/South Korea, as well as cultural management in Vienna and at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, the University of Music Würzburg and the University for Continuing Education Krems. As head of artistic planning and dramaturgy of the Vienna Konzerthaus, he is responsible for over 600 concerts per season. He is also artistic director of the Oberoesterreichische Stiftskonzerte summer festival, Board member of the Wiener KammerOrchester and member of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation advisory board

Mr Gulda is frequently invited as juror by major international piano competitions, such as The Cliburn or the International Beethoven Piano Competition, Vienna.