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 that transcends traditional boundaries.
Performing throughout the world each season with the most significant orchestras and conductors, Mr. Aimard has also been invited to create, direct, and perform in groundbreaking residencies. Recent venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Opéra national de Paris, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la musique, and Southbank Centre. In June 2010, he marked his second year as Artistic Director of the historic Aldeburgh Festival. He was presented with Germany’s Schallplattenkritik honorary prize in December 2009.
Highlights of the 2010–2011 season include solo recitals in Berlin, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Vienna. He appears with The Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst in a three-week US tour, and gives concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Filarmonica della Scala, New York Philharmonic, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Through professorships at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and the Paris Conservatoire, as well as numerous concert lectures and workshops worldwide, Mr. Aimard sheds an inspiring and personal light on music of all periods. During 2009, he was invited to give a series of classes and seminars at the Collège de France.
Born in France in 1957, Mr. Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks included winning first prize in the 1973 Messiaen Competition and being appointed at the age of 19 by Pierre Boulez to become Ensemble Intercontemporain’s first solo pianist. For more than 15 years, Mr. Aimard collaborated closely with György Ligeti, recording his complete works for piano.
Mr. Aimard now records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. His first DG release, Bach’s The Art of Fugue, received both the Diapason d’Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique awards, debuted at number one on Billboard’s classical chart, and topped iTunes’s classical album download chart. In recent years, Mr. Aimard has been honored with ECHO Classic Awards: in 2003 for his recording of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt; in 2004 for his CD of Debussy’s Images and Études; and in 2009 for his recording of solo piano pieces, Hommage à Messiaen. In addition, he won a Grammy Award for his recording of Ives’s “Concord” Sonata and songs with Susan Graham in 2005. His latest disc for DG of Ravel’s piano concertos and Miroirs, recorded live with The Cleveland Orchestra and Pierre Boulez, was released worldwide in 2010.
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