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

Widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and as a uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career.

He performs throughout the world each season with major orchestras under conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Eötvös, Sir Simon Rattle and Riccardo Chailly. He has been invited to create, direct and perform in a number of residencies, with projects at Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, Vienna's Konzerthaus, Berlin's Philharmonie, the Lucerne Festival, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Tanglewood Festival and London's Southbank Centre. Aimard is also the Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival.

Born in Lyon in 1957, Pierre-Laurent Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks included winning first prize in the 1973 Messiaen Competition at the age of 16 and being appointed, three years later, by Pierre Boulez to become the Ensemble Inter-Contemporain's first solo pianist. Aimard has had close collaborations with many leading composers including Kurtag, Stockhausen, Carter, and Boulez had a long association with Ligeti, recording his complete works for piano. During the 2008/2009 season Aimard was an Associate Professor at the College de France, Paris, and he is a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste. He was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award in spring 2005 and was named ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ by Musical America in 2007.

Pierre-Laurent has made many highly successful recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. His first DG release, Bach’s Art of Fugue, received both the Diapason d'Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique awards, and topped the iTunes’ classical album download chart. In recent years Pierre-Laurent has been honoured with ECHO Klassik Awards, most recently in 2009 for his recording of solo piano pieces, Hommage à Messiaen, a Grammy award in 2005 for his recording of Ives’ Concord Sonata and Songs and he was also presented with Germany’s Schallplattenkritik Honorary Prize in 2009. His recording of Bach’s Das wohlteperierte Klavier Book I was released in 2014.

The Austrian-Hungarian violinist Christoph Koncz made his North American debut with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit at age 12, followed by appearances on tour and in concert with the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the New European Strings Chamber Orchestra conducted by Dmitry Sitkovetsky, the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra conducted by Gábor Tákacs-Nagy and the renowned Academy of St Martin in the Fields. His concert activities have led him to numerous countries in Europe and to the Middle East, to Asia and Australia, as well as North and South America. In January 2016, he performs the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 with Les Musiciens du Louvre, under Marc Minkowski, as part of the Salzburg Mozart Week. He performs frequently with his older brother, cellist Stephan Koncz. Further musical partners include Leonidas Kavakos, Julian Rachlin, Kim Kashkashian (viola), Gautier Capuçon, Gary Hoffman (cello), Franco Petracchi (double bass) and Francesco Piemontesi (piano). In 1997, Christoph Koncz played a leading role in the Canadian production of "The Red Violin", which won an Academy Award for Best Score. Christoph Koncz performs on a 1762 Giuseppe Gagliano.

Born in Belgrade in 1968, Aleksandar Madzar first studied piano with Gordana Matinovic, Arbo Valdma and Eliso Virsaladze in Belgrade and Moscow, then with Edouard Mirzoian at the Strasbourg Conservatory and in Brussels with Daniel Blumenthal. In Europe he regularly gives recitals in London’s Wigmore, Milan’s Conservatorio Giuspeppe Verdi, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw halls whilst maintaining close duo partnerships with violinist Ilya Gringolts, and soprano Juliana Banse. He is a regular guest artist at the festivals of Bad Kissingen, Schleswig Holstein, the Ivo Pogorelich Festival at Bad Wörishofen, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Davos, Roque d’Antheron, Salzburg, Sintra and Aldeburgh. A regular concerto soloist, he has worked with conductors of the calibre of Paavo Berglund, Ivan Fischer, Paavo Järvi, Carlos Kalmar, Libor Pešek, André Previn, Andris Nelsons and the late Marcello Viotti.