Hélène Grimaud | Piano

A truly multi-faceted and charismatic artist - for pianist Hélène Grimaud music is a limitless passion. Hélène is a naturally emotive, spiritual performer whose success as an international artist is overwhelming. She has achieved her professional standing through an intense touring and recording programme in which she shares her profound, original interpretations of classical music. A committed conservationist and human rights campaigner, Grimaud also lends her prodigious talent and eloquence to the literary world with her successful books.

Highlights of the 12/13 season include concerts at the Concertgebouw with the Gurzenich Orchestra; the opening gala concert at Norway’s new concert hall in Stavanger in the presence of the King and Queen; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hrusa; St. Petersburg Philharmonia; a European tour with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; a tour of Asia with concerts and recitals in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Korea; concerts in Switzerland and New York with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; a tour of South America with debut concerts at the Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra and a UK tour with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In recital, Hélène returns to the Walt Disney Concert Hall; to Prague as part of the Dvořák Prague Festival’s Gala concert at Prague Castle as well as touring France and Italy.

Next season Brahms features prominently in Hélène’s plans to coincide with the release of her recording of these concerti with the Bayerische Rundfunks Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; she will perform these works with the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

An ardent and committed chamber musician, Hélène Grimaud performs regularly in the most prestigious festivals and cultural capitals with a wide range of collaborators including Sol Gabetta, Thomas Quasthoff, Rolando Villazòn, Jan Vogler, Truls Mørk, Clemens Hagen and the Capuçon brothers, Jörg Widmann and Christine Schäfer. This autumn she will give concerts in Germany and France with Sol Gabetta to support the release of their ‘Duo’ CD on Deutsche Grammophon featuring the cello sonatas of Schumann, Brahms, Shostakovich and Debussy, recreating the programme of a concert the two artists performed together at the 2011 Gstaad Festival and which the Berner Zeitung described as “Breathtaking”.

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2002, Hélène is one of DG’s most important recording artists with a string of imaginative and highly successful discs. Her recent 2011 release, Mozart ‘s Piano Concertos No.19 and No.23 with Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks also featured a collaboration with singer Mojca Erdmann on a recording of Mozart’s ’Ch’io mi scordi di te? KV 505’ whilst her 2010 release, the solo recital album Resonances, featured music by Mozart, Berg, Liszt and Bartók. Previous DG recordings include Bach’s solo and concerto works in which she directed Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen from the keyboard, and a Beethoven disc with Staatskapelle Dresden and Vladimir Jurowski, ‘Reflection’ and ‘Credo’ (both of which feature a number of works linked thematically), a Chopin and Rachmaninov Sonatas disc and a recording of Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with Pierre Boulez and the London Symphony Orchestra. Hélène also features on two recent DVD releases: 2010 ECHOKlassik award winning DVD of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with Vladimir Jurowski and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Recipient of numerous awards worldwide, Hélène Grimaud received the 2012 Preis der Dresdner Musikfestspiele and in 2009 the Musikfest Bremen Award. She has been appointed ‘Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by the French Ministère de la Culture in 2002 and ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite’ in 2008. In 2004 she received a ‘Victoire d’honneur’ at the Victoires de la Musique and in 2005 she won the ECHO ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ Award. Author of two very successful books, “Variations Sauvages” and “Leçons Particulières”, she champions many charitable causes, including the Wolf Conservation Center which she founded in upper New York State in 1999, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and Amnesty International.

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