Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Source: harrisonparrott.com

“A brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary” (Wall Street Journal), Pierre-Laurent Aimard is widely acclaimed as an authority on music of our time while recognised also for shedding fresh light on music of the past.

In the 2024/25 season Pierre-Laurent celebrates the 150^th anniversary of Maurice Ravel with ensembles such as Berner Symphonieorchester, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Philadelphia Orchestra, and at the Kissinger Sommer and Litomysyl festivals with Czech Philharmonic. He also marks the centenary of his teacher and close friend Pierre Boulez appearing as a soloist alongside HR Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Los Angeles Philharmonic and in recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Auditorium National de Lyon, Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical in Madrid, and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Other highlights of 2024/25 include the late Peter Eotvös’ Cziffra Psodia with Berlin Philharmonic and the world premieres of two new works: ‘…selig ist…’ for piano and electronics by Mark Andre at the Donaueschinger Festival and a new work for four hands by George Benjamin which will be premiered at Berlin’s Boulez Saal with Aimard performing alongside the composer. Aimard has had close collaborations with leading composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Elliott Carter, Harrison Birtwistle, György Kurtág, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Marco Stroppa and Olivier Messiaen, and given many notable premieres; most recently Clara Iannotta’s Piano Concerto for the Acht Brucken Festival in Cologne, which he repeats in autumn 2024 with Wiener Symphoniker under the direction of Elena Schwarz. He also continues his associations with chamber music partners both old and new, notably Tamara Stefanovich at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Zürich’s Fraumünster, and actor Mathieu Amalric at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Aimard features prominently in numerous festival line-ups throughout the year including Musikfestspiel Berlin, Prague Spring Festival, and Klavierfestival Ruhr. His extensive recital schedule also includes Cité de la Musique in Paris, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, Seoul Arts Centre, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan, Konzerthaus Dortmund, and Alte Oper Frankfurt.

In early 2024 Aimard released Schubert: Ländler. Awarded five stars by BBC Music Magazine, this record is the latest in a series of critically acclaimed collaborations with Pentatone, following his Complete Bartók piano concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (2023), Visions de l’Amen (2022) recorded with Tamara Stefanovich, Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata & Eroica Variations (2021), and Messiaen’s magnum opus Catalogue d’oiseaux (2018) which garnered multiple awards including the prestigious German music critic’s award.

An innovative curator and uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Aimard has been invited to direct and perform in numerous residencies including for Musikkollegium Winterthur where over the season he celebrated different composers and opened with the complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos. Elsewhere, he has performed ground-breaking projects at Porto’s Casa da Musica, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Konzerthaus Vienna, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Lucerne Festival, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Tanglewood Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, and as Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 2009 to 2016.

Aimard is the recipient of many prizes, including the prestigious International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2017 in recognition of a life devoted to the service of music and the Leonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark’s most prominent music award in 2022.

A member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Aimard has held professorships at the Hochschule Köln and was previously an Associate Professor at the College de France, Paris. In spring 2020, he re-launched a major online resource, Explore the Score in collaboration with the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, which centres on the performance and teaching of Ligeti’s piano music.