Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Tiempo began his piano studies with his mother, Lyl Tiempo, at the age of two and made his concert debut when he had just turned three. Whilst at the Fondazione per il Pianoforte in Como, Italy, he worked with Dimitri Bashkirov, Fou Tsong, Murray Perahia and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He has received frequent musical guidance and advice from Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire and Nikita Magaloff and performs regularly with fellow-countryman and friend Gustavo Dudamel including concerts with the Simón Bolívar Orchestra.
Sergio Tiempo has made a number of highly distinctive and acclaimed recordings. On EMI Classics’ 'Martha Argerich Presents' label, he recorded Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit and three Chopin Nocturnes, and for Deutsche Grammophon he has recorded several discs with Mischa Maisky, including a disc of Rachmaninov which was awarded five stars by Classic FM and the BBC Music Magazine, which also named it their benchmark recording. In June 2010, Tiempo gave the world premiere of a new work for two pianos and orchestra Tango Rhapsody by Argentinean composer Federico Jusid with Karin Lechner and the RSI Lugano under Jacek Kaspszyk at the Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano, where he is a visitor each year. Most recently, Sergio Tiempo released a disc of French music for two pianos with Karin Lechner for Avanti Classic entitled La Belle Epoque.
Recent concerto highlights for Tiempo have included return visits to the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris and on tour to his native South America, the Singapore Symphony and the Music Days in Lisbon Festival, as well as debuts with the BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Northern Sinfonia, Queensland Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia. Recent recital engagements have included a sell-out recital debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in the International Piano Series, debuts at the Vienna Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie and Edinburgh International Festival as well as return visits to the Oslo Chamber Music Festival and the Warsaw Chopin Festival.
