Past Concerts 2011 to the present (click the year, below right, to navigate back from the most recent)

JAN LISIECKI, piano

Chopin

Prélude in D-flat, Op. 28 No. 15

Chopin

Prélude in A-flat, B. 86

Bach

Prelude in C, BWV 846, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

Rachmaninov

Prelude in D minor, Op. 23 No. 3

Szymanowski

Preludes nos. 1-3 from Nine Preludes, Op. 1

Messiaen

Préludes nos. 1-3 from Préludes pour piano (1928-29)

Chopin

Prélude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45

Rachmaninov

Prélude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2

Górecki

Preludes Nos. 1 and 4 from Four Preludes, Op. 1

Bach

Prelude No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

Rachmaninov

Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5

INTERVAL

Chopin

Twenty-Four Préludes, Op. 28

Jan Lisiecki's dazzling, sold-out, debut concert for Camerata Musica in early 2023 was one of the most talked-about concerts of the season. He repeated this all-Chopin programme on a European tour that was consistently greeted by five-star reviews, ecstatic audiences, and sold-out performances in all of Europe's major capitals, as well as Milan's La Scala and Hamburg's vast new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie.

Described by the BBC Music Magazine as ‘perhaps the most “complete” pianist of his age’, Lisiecki has become one of the most sought-after pianists performing today. Still in his twenties, the Canadian performs over a hundred yearly concerts worldwide, and has worked closely with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding, and the late Claudio Abbado.

Recent return invitations include Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for performances at Carnegie Hall and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Lisiecki recently performed a Beethoven Lieder cycle with baritone, Matthias Goerne, at the Salzburg Festival, and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of fifteen, Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The label launched its celebrations of the Beethoven Year 2020 with the release of a live recording of all five Beethoven concertos from the Konzerthaus Berlin, with Lisiecki leading the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano. His Beethoven Lieder cycle with Matthias Goerne, released shortly after, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Lisiecki’s eighth recording for Deutsche Grammophon, a double album of Frédéric Chopin's Complete Nocturnes, appeared in August 2021 and immediately topped the classical charts in North America and Europe. His recordings have been awarded with the JUNO and ECHO Klassik.

At eighteen, Lisiecki became both the youngest ever recipient of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award and received the Leonard Bernstein Award. He was named UNICEF Ambassador to Canada in 2012.

JAMES EHNES, violin • ANDREW ARMSTRONG, piano

Bach

Partita in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004

INTERVAL

Shostakovich

Sonata in G, Op. 134

James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after violinists on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, Ehnes is a favourite guest of many of the world’s most respected conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Denève, Sir Mark Elder, Ivan Fischer, Edward Gardner, Paavo Järvi, and Donald Runnicles. Ehnes’s long list of orchestral collaborations includes, amongst others, the Boston, Chicago, London, NHK and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Los Angeles, New York, Munich and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Philharmonia and DSO Berlin orchestras.

Alongside his concerto work, James Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at the Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Chaise-Dieu, the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Verbier Festival, among others. As part of the 2020 celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Ehnes performed the complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas at the Wigmore Hall. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with leading artists including Leif Ove Andsnes, Gautier Capuçon, Louis Lortie, Yo-Yo Ma, and Yuja Wang.

Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammy Awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, and recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. James Ehnes plays the ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius of 1715.

Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw’s National Philharmonic. His orchestral engagements across the globe have seen him perform an extensive repertoire with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in solo recitals in chamber-music concerts with the Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets.

He has issued highly praised recordings of Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, among others and has released several award-winning recordings with his long-time recital partner James Ehnes — most recently of the Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, to stellar reviews.

BELCEA QUARTET

Corina Belcea, violin

Suyeon Kang, violin

Krzysztof Chorzelski, viola

Antoine Lederlin, cello

Beethoven

Quartet no. 4 in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4

Bartók

Quartet no. 1 in A minor, Sz. 40

INTERVAL

Beethoven

Quartet no. 12 in E-flat, Op. 127

The Belcea Quartet has established itself in the last quarter-century as one of the world’s most celebrated chamber-music ensembles. Founded in 1994 and mentored by members of the Alban Berg and Amadeus Quartets, the ensemble brings together musicians of very different artistic provenance: the Romanian violinist Corina Belcea, the Polish violist Krzysztof Chorzelski, and their French colleagues, violinist Axel Schacher and cellist Antoine Lederlin. This diversity is reflected in the Belcea Quartet’s repertoire. Its performances of world-premieres of new works go hand-in-hand with its profound connection with the great works of the Classical and Romantic periods.

Since 2010, the quartet has been Artist-in-Residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus (an honour shared with the equally celebrated Artemis Quartet), and since 2017 they have combined this Vienna appointment with the position of Quartet Artist-in-Residence in Berlin’s premier chamber-music venue, the Pierre Boulez Saal.

The Belcea Quartet has an extensive and prize-winning discography. During its long-term association with EMI Classics, the quartet has recorded the complete Britten and Bartók quartets as well as works by Schubert, Brahms, Mozart, Debussy, Ravel and Dutilleux, amongst others. In 2012 and 2013, the quartet recorded the complete Beethoven quartets live to great critical acclaim, including a Gramophone Award. This was followed in 2015 by the quartet’s highly acclaimed recording of works by Webern, Berg and Schoenberg. 2016 saw the release of the quartet’s recording of the complete Brahms String Quartets and the Piano Quintet (with the Austrian pianist Till Fellner), a CD acclaimed by the press and awarded a Diapason d’Or Award. Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 3 and his Piano Quintet (with Piotr Anderszewski) followed in 2018, with works by Janáček and Ligeti in 2019.

The Belcea Quartet’s performances of the complete Beethoven string quartets at Vienna’s Konzerthaus in 2012 were broadcast by Mezzo TV and were released – on DVD and Blue Ray disk – by the label Euroarts in the autumn of 2014.

The musicians have created the Belcea Quartet Trust, whose main aims are to support and inspire young string quartets through a series of intensive coaching sessions, as well as to support the commissioning of new works from today’s leading composers to be premiered by the quartet in the future.