Louis Lortie

For over three decades, French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has performed world-wide, building a reputation as one of the world’s most versatile pianists. He extends his interpretative voice across a broad spectrum of repertoire, and his performances and award-winning recordings attest to his remarkable musical range.

In demand on five continents, Lortie has established long-term partnerships with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Dresden Philharmonic in Europe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony and St Louis Symphony in the US. In his native Canada he regularly performs with the major orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary. Further afield, collaborations include the Shanghai Symphony, where he was artist-in-residence in 2017-18, as well as the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. Regular partnerships with conductors include, among others, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner, Sir Andrew Davis, Jaap Van Zweden, Simone Young, Antoni Wit and Thierry Fischer.

In recital and chamber music, Louis Lortie appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, the Beethovenfest Bonn and Liszt Festival Raiding. Lortie is co-founder and Artistic Director of the LacMus International Festival on Lake Como and a Master in Residence at The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Brussels. Together with fellow pianist Hélène Mercier, as the Lortie-Mercier duo, he has also shed new light on the repertoire for four hands and two pianos both in the concert hall and on several best-selling recordings.

A prolific recording artist, Lortie’s thirty-year relationship with Chandos Records has produced a catalogue of over 45 recordings on the label, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a complete Beethoven sonata cycle and the complete Liszt ‘Années de pèlerinage’, which was named as one of the top ten recordings of 2012 by the New Yorker. His recording of the Lutosławski Piano Concerto with Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra received high praise, as have his Chopin recordings (part of an ongoing project with Chandos to record all of Chopin’s solo piano music), one having been named among the Recordings of the Year in 2012 by the New York Times, while his Chopin Waltzes were described by Fanfare Magazine as ‘Chopin playing of sublime genius’. In duet with Hélène Mercier, he recorded Carnival of the Animals with Neeme Jarvi and the Bergen Philharmonic and Vaughan-Williams’ Concerto for Two Pianos as well as Rachmaninov’s complete works for two pianos. Current recording projects for future release feature Saint-Saëns’ works for piano and orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic, and Fauré’s piano works. He has also recorded two acclaimed CDs with violinist Augustin Dumay for Onyx Classics.

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. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and the same year he was a prizewinner at the Leeds Competition.

July 2018

• ADÉS
  Concerto Conciso
BACH, J.S
Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056
BEETHOVEN
Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19
Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Op. 37
Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)
Triple Concerto, Op. 56
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 (original transcription for Piano and Orchestra)
BRAHMS
Concerto No. 1 in d minor, Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op.83
CHOPIN
Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Op. 11
Concerto No. 2 in f minor, Op. 21
Krakowiak (Rondo), Op. 14
Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise, Op. 22
Variations in B-flat on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano”, Op. 2
Grand Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13
DEBUSSY
Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra
DE FALLA
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
D’INDY
Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français, for piano and orchestra
FRANCK
Symphonic Variations
GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue
GRIEG
Concerto in a minor, Op. 16
LISZT
Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major
Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Concerto No. 3
Concerto pathétique
De Profundis
Fantasy on Hungarian Folk-tunes
Fantasy on themes from Berlioz’ “Lelio”
Fantasy on themes from Beethoven’s “Ruins of Athens”
Malédiction for Piano and Strings
Polonaise Brillante
Totentanz
(SCHUBERT-LISZT)
Wandererfantasie
LUTOSLAWSKI
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Paganini Variations
MENDELSSOHN
Concerto No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25
Concerto No. 2 in d minor, Op.40
Serenade and Allegro
Capriccio Brillante
Rondo Brillante
Concerto for 2 Pianos in E major
Concerto in a minor for Piano and Strings
Double Concerto in d minor for Violin, Piano and Strings
MOZART
Concerto No.5 in D major, K.175
Concerto No.6 in B-flat major, K.238
Concerto No.7 in F major for 3 Pianos, K.242
Concerto No.8 in C major, K.246
Concerto No.9 in E-flat major, K.271
Concerto No.10 in E-flat major for 2 Pianos, K.365
Concerto No.11 in F major, K.413
Concerto No.12 in A major, K.414
Concerto No.13 in C major, K.415
Concerto No.14 in E-flat major, K.449
Concerto No.15 in B-flat major, K.450
Concerto No.16 in D major, K.451
Concerto No.17, in G major, K.453
Concerto No.18 in B-flat major, K.456
Concerto No.19 in F major, K.459
Concerto No.20 in d minor, K.466
Concerto No.21 in C Major, K.467
Concerto No.22 in E-flat Major, K.482
Concerto No.23 in A Major, K.488
Concerto No.24 in c minor, K.491
Concerto No.25 in C Major, K.503
Concerto No.26 in D Major, K.537
Concerto No.27 in B-flat Major, K.595
POULENC
Aubade for Piano and 18 instruments
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
PROKOFIEV
Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major
Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
RACHMANINOV
Concerto No. 2 in c minor, Op. 18
Concerto No. 3 in d minor, Op. 30
Concerto No. 4 in g minor, Op. 40
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
RAVEL
Concerto in G Major
Concerto in D Major (left hand)
SAINT-SAËNS
Concerto No.1 in D, Op. 17
Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 22
Concerto No. 4 in C, Op. 44
Concerto No. 5 in F, Op. 103
Carnival of the Animals (2 pianos)
Africa: Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra
Wedding Cake
SCHUMANN
Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Konzertstuck, Op. 86
Introduction and Allegro de Concert Op. 134
Introduction and Allegro Appassionato Op. 92
SZYMANOWSKI
Symphony No. 4
TCHAIKOVSKY
Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor, Op. 23
Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44
Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 75/79
Concert Fantasy in G Major, Op. 56
VERESS
Hommage à Paul Klee for Two Pianos and Strings

Louis Lortie has an extensive Discography of over 45 recordings on Chandos click here to view his complete discography

Latest Releases

Vaughan Williams – Piano Concerto(June 2018)

Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol.5(Sep 2017)

Vaughan Williams – Concerto for Two Pianos (Oct 2017)