Jan Lisiecki: Canada's Newest Young Star of Classical Music
by Michael Wolch - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 10:39am
At just 17 years old, Calgary born pianist Jan Lisiecki is taking the world by storm.
Already recognized around the world for his poetic and mature playing, 17-year-old Jan Lisiecki has received several awards, including the 2010 Révélations Radio-Canada Musique and the 2011 Jeune Soliste des Radios Francophones. He has signed an exclusive recording agreement with Deutsche Grammophon at age 15 and his debut recording for them features Mozart?s Piano Concertos no. 20, K. 466 and no. 21, K. 467 under Maestro Christian Zacharias with the Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Performance highlights for the 2011-12 season include the opening concert of the Orchestre de Paris under Paavo Järvi at Salle Pleyel, and debuts with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican in London, the Leipzig Radio Symphony at Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Göteborgs Symfoniker. European recital debuts include Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Gstaad, Hamburg, Lisbon, Vienna, and Zurich. In summer 2011 Jan appeared at various festivals including Verbier, Radio France and Montpellier, la Roque D?Anthéron and Chopin and His Europe, and in the fall, he returned to Japan with recitals in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. Recent and upcoming engagements in North America include recitals in Chicago and Seattle, as well as orchestral appearances with the Toronto Symphony under Peter Oundjian and Montreal?s Orchestre Métropolitain under its music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In 2012 he will make his debut with the Accademia de Santa Cecilia Orchestra under Antonio Pappano, and the New York Philharmonic under Daniel Harding.
Born in 1995 in Calgary to Polish parents, Jan has performed at the Carnegie Hall (New York), Salle Pleyel and Salle Cortot (Paris), Herkulessaal (Munich), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Centre, Zurich Tonhalle, Herkulessaal (Munich) and has shared the stage with Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pinchas Zukerman. He has performed throughout Canada, in China, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, and Scotland. In 2010, Jan was asked to substitute for Nelson Freire in four concerts in France. He opened the Seoul International Music Festival in Korea and performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and an audience of 100,000 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
I love what I do. No one has ever pushed me into becoming a pianist. It was just something that happened very organically, very naturally, not something I ever intended would happen.
M...
