When Leif Ove Andsnes toured North America with a richly varied recital program in November, the Washington Post pronounced him “one of the finest musicians working today.” Now the celebrated Norwegian pianist returns to the States to play Schumann’s Piano Concerto – for which his award-winning account with the Berlin Philharmonic set a new gold standard – with two of the nation’s “Big Five.” He joins The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst during their annual Miami residency (Miami, Jan 21 & 22; Naples, Jan 24) and teams up with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin for concerts in the City of Brotherly Love (Jan 28–30).
Andsnes’s 2003 recording of Schumann’s concerto not only scored a Gramophone Award and a Penguin Guide “Rosette,” but was named one of the “Best of 2003” by numerous outlets. These included the New York Times, which considered it “exceptional,” and BBC Music magazine, which marveled:
“Andsnes has a commanding keyboard presence as well as a rare poetic freshness and nobility of feeling. … One of the few CDs of the year and the present decade for which one can claim greatness.”
The pianist returns to America in April for performances of Brahms’s Three Piano Quartets during an extensive international tour with his frequent musical collaborator Christian Tetzlaff, together with Tabea Zimmermann and Clemens Hagen. Besides numerous European dates, their tour includes dates at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Performing Arts (April 7), New York’s Carnegie Hall (April 9) and Chicago’s Symphony Center (April 10).
Andsnes also looks forward to the release of Concerto – A Beethoven Journey, a new documentary from award-winning British director and filmmaker Phil Grabsky that is due for U.S. release on April 8. This captures the pianist’s recent monumental four-year focus on the master composer’s music for piano and orchestra that he called “The Beethoven Journey,” a project that yielded three Sony Classical albums recorded with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As a boxed set, these were named among the “Best of 2014” by the New York Times, while the disc of Beethoven’s second and fourth concertos won the pianist BBC Music magazine’s coveted “2015 Recording of the Year Award.”
High resolution photos are available here.
Leif Ove Andsnes: upcoming U.S. engagements
Jan 21 & 22
Miami, FL
The Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Jan 24
Naples, FL
The Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
Jan 28, 29, 30
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor
April 7
Chapel Hill, NC
Carolina Performing Arts
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 9
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Annual Isaac Stern Memorial Concert
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
April 10
Chicago, IL
Symphony Center Presents
BRAHMS: Piano Quartets
(With Christian Tetzlaff, violin; Tabea Zimmermann, viola; Clemens Hagen, cello)
# # #