Lars Vogt (Piano)
Lars Vogt has established himself as one of the leading musicians of his
generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public
attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano
Competition and has enjoyed a varied career for nearly twenty-five years. His
versatility as an artist ranges from the core classical repertoire of Mozart,
Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms to the romantics Grieg, Tchaikovsky and
Rachmaninov through to the dazzling Lutoslawski concerto. Lars Vogt is now
increasingly working with orchestras as a conductor and in September 2015
took up his post as Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia at
Sage, Gateshead. His second season at the helm explores Beethoven’s
concertos – the five piano concertos, the Choral Fantasy and the Triple
Concerto together with Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff, all of which also being
recorded for the Ondine label. This season will also include the orchestra’s
first tour to Asia.
“Conducting feels like flying with the force and
energy of the music helping you to uplift the musicians around
you”.
During his prestigious career Lars Vogt has performed with many
of the world’s great orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden
Staatskapelle, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, London Symphony
Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston
Symphony, NHK Symphony and Orchestre de Paris. He has collaborated with some
of the world’s most renowned conductors including Claudio Abbado,
Daniel Harding, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvo, Andris Nelsons, Sir Simon Rattle
and Robin Ticciati. His special relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic has
continued with regular collaborations following his appointment as their first
ever “pianist in Residence” in 2003/4.
In addition to his ongoing
relationship with Royal Northern Sinfonia Lars Vogt has conducted several
ensembles including the Cologne, Munich and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Arte
del Mondo, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen,
Sinfonieorchester Aachen and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This season Lars Vogt
continues his conducting journey with the Philharmonie
Zuidnederland, Nuremburg Symphony and Bochumer Symphony among others, and
future dates include concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic and
Bogota Symphony.
Highlights of Lars Vogt’s 2016/17 season include
performances with the NHK Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Deutsches
SymphonieOrchester Berlin, Tonkünstlerorchester, NDR Radiophilharmonie
Hannover, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Santa Cecilia Orchestra at La Scala
in Milan, the Philharmonia and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Collaborations with other musicians remain a major part of his work
this season as he takes to the road with long-time artistic partner Christian
Tetzlaff for a duo recital tour in the United States, Tanja Tetzlaff
later accompanying them for a trio tour in Europe. Tenor Ian Bostridge also
joins him in recital for Schubert’s Schwanengesang with concerts
in Gateshead, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Vienna and at the Schubertiade
festival in Hohenems.
Some particularly memorable engagements from the
previous year included the First Night of the BBC Proms season in London and
the opening of the Orchestre de Paris’ season at the Philharmonie in Paris,
repeated at La Scala, Milan. Lars Vogt also toured Australia both as soloist
and conductor and took part in the 15th Anniversary Chamber Music Festival at
Toppan Hall in Tokyo. His concerto appearances featured the London Symphony,
Munich’s Bayerischer Rundfunk, Vienna Symphony and Boston Symphony.
Lars
Vogt enjoys a high profile as a chamber musician and in June 1998 he founded his
own chamber festival in the village of Heimbach near Cologne. Known as
“Spannungen”, the concerts take place in an art-nouveau hydro-electric power
station. Its huge success has been marked by the release of several live
recordings on the CAvi and EMI labels. In addition to the Tetzlaff siblings and
Ian Bostridge, Lars Vogt has enjoyed regular partnerships with colleagues
such as Thomas Quasthoff and collaborates occasionally with actor Klaus-Maria
Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher.
A prolific recording artist,
Lars Vogt now works closely with the Ondine label, most recently on a disc of
Schubert works released in October 2016. Prior to that, his Bach Goldberg
Variations with the label had unprecedented success in download charts as well
as receiving widespread acclaim. Adding to his growing list of chamber
recordings, recent releases on Ondine include Brahms, Mozart and
Schumann sonatas with Christian Tetzlaff, and their GRAMMY nominated Brahms’
piano trios with Tanja Tetzlaff. In earlier years as an EMI recording artist,
Lars Vogt made over ten discs with the label including the Hindemith Kammermusik
No 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado, plus the Schumann, Grieg
and first two Beethoven Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle. Lars Vogt has also recorded for the labels CAvi
(most recently a charming recording of Larcher, Schumann and Bartók works for
children released in 2016) Ohems Classics (Mozart Concertos/Salzburg
Mozarteum Orchestra) and Berlin Classics (solo Liszt and Schumann). A
passionate advocate of making music an essential life force in the community, in
2005 Lars Vogt established a major educational programme “Rhapsody in School”
which brings his colleagues to schools across Germany and Austria, thereby
connecting children with inspiring world-class musicians. He is also an
accomplished and enthusiastic teacher and in 2013 was appointed Professor of
Piano at the Hannover Conservatory of Music, succeeding Karl-Heinz
Kämmerling, his former teacher and close friend.
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