Louis Lortie
French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has attracted critical acclaim throughout Europe,
Asia, and the United States. He has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range
of repertoire rather than choosing to specialize in one particular style.
Mr. Lortie has performed complete Beethoven sonata cycles at London's Wigmore Hall,
Berlin's Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. As
both pianist and conductor with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, he has performed all
five Beethoven concertos and all of the Mozart concertos. Mr. Lortie has also won
widespread acclaim for his interpretation of Ravel and Chopin. He performed the complete
works of Ravel in London and Montreal for the BBC and CBC, and is renowned all over the
world for his performances of the complete Chopin etudes.
In 2011, Mr. Lortie celebrated the bicentenary of Liszt's birth by performing the complete
Années de pèlerinage at international music capitals and festivals. Other
2011-2012 engagements include playing and conducting with the Slovenian Philharmonic,
Sydney Symphony, and Orchestre symphonique de Québec; concerts with the symphony orchestras
of Toronto, Philadelphia, Bournemouth, and St. Louis; a tour of Italy with the Kremerata
Baltica; and a performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Brahms Festival in
Brussels.
Mr. Lortie has performed with the world's leading conductors, including Riccardo Chailly,
Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Sanderling, Neeme Järvi, Sir
Andrew Davis, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Mark Elder, and Osmo Vänskä. He has also been
involved in many chamber-music projects with such musicians as Frank Peter Zimmermann,
Leonidas Kavakos, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Jan Vogler, Augustin Dumay, the Takács
Quartet, and Gidon Kremer. His regular piano-duo partner is fellow Canadian Hélène
Mercier.
Mr. Lortie has made more than 30 recordings for the Chandos label, covering repertoire
from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a set of the complete Beethoven sonatas and the
complete Liszt Années de pèlerinage. His recording of the Lutosławski Piano
Concerto and Paganini Variations with Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony was released
earlier this year. Future recording projects include a disc of Liszt's
transcriptions.
Mr. Lortie's recording of Beethoven's Eroica Variations earned him an Edison
Award. His disc of works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year
by BBC Music Magazine, which also named his disc of Chopin etudes one of "50
Recordings by Superlative Pianists." His interpretation of Liszt's complete works for piano
and orchestra with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague was a
Gramophone Editor's Choice.
Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of the legendary Alfred
Cortot), in Vienna with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel
disciple Leon Fleisher. He made his debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at the
age of 13; three years later, his first appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra led
to an historic tour of the People's Republic of China and Japan. In 1984, he won First
Prize in the Busoni Competition and was also prizewinner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992,
he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an
honorary doctorate from Université Laval.