Pierre-Laurent Aimard
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 who include Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo
Dudamel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Peter Eötvös, and Sir Simon Rattle. He has been invited to
create, direct, and perform in a number of residencies, including recent projects at the
Vienna Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la Musique, Carnegie
Hall, Lincoln Center, and Southbank Centre; as well as with the Lucerne and Tanglewood
festivals. Mr. Aimard is also the artistic director of the prestigious Aldeburgh
Festival.
Highlights of the 2012-2013 season include solo recitals in London, New York, Chicago,
Paris, and Tokyo. Mr. Aimard will make concerto appearances with the New York Philharmonic,
Philharmonia Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, and Budapest Festival Orchestra with Osmo
Vänskä. He also regularly directs concertos from the keyboard with the Chamber Orchestra of
Europe.
Mr. Aimard has had close collaborations with many leading composers, including György
Kurtág, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, and George Benjamin. For more
than 15 years, he collaborated closely with György Ligeti, recording his complete works for
piano. Most recently, he performed the world premiere of Tristan Murail's piano
concerto.
Through professorships at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and Paris Conservatoire,
as well as numerous series of concert lectures and workshops worldwide, Mr. Aimard sheds an
inspiring and personal light on music of all periods. In 2009, he was invited to give a
series of classes and seminars at the Collège de France in Paris.
Born in Lyon, France, in 1957, Mr. Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne
Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks include 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 intercontemporain's first solo pianist.
Mr. Aimard now records exclusively 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, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's classical chart, and topped iTunes's
classical album download chart. In recent years, Mr. Aimard has been honored with ECHO
Klassik awards, most recently in 2009 for his recording of solo piano pieces, Hommage à
Messiaen. That same year, he was also presented with Germany's Schallplattenkritik
Honorary Prize. His Ives: Concord Sonata / Songs recording received a Grammy
Award in 2005. The Liszt Project-his highly successful 2011 release that featured
the music of Liszt, Berg, Bartók, Ravel, Scriabin, and Messiaen-was followed by a recording
of Debussy's Préludes in 2012, the composer's 150th anniversary
year.