Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has been praised for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to a deliberately broad spectrum of the keyboard canon. He studied in Montréal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of French pianist, Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with the Beethoven specialist, Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher, among others.
Louis Lortie has performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montréal for the BBC and CBC, and is also known for his interpretation of Chopin. Following a recital of Chopin�s complete Etudes in London�s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Financial Times wrote: �Better Chopin playing than this is not to be heard, not anywhere.� Lortie has also performed a series devoted to the keyboard, chamber, and vocal music of Brahms and Schumann for CBC. More recently Lortie has championed works by such contemporary composers as Kurtag (a Bach/Kurtag program at Columbia University), Carter, and Ades.
Also celebrated for his interpretation of works by Beethoven, Lortie has performed the complete Beethoven sonatas in London�s Wigmore Hall, Toronto�s Ford Center, Berlin Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. In Berlin, Die Welt called his performances �possibly the most beautiful Beethoven since the times of Wilhelm Kempff.� With the Montreal Symphony, he performed and conducted all five Beethoven Piano Concertos. In the Beethoven Plus Festival, he performed Beethoven�s 32 sonatas for piano; ten sonatas for violin and Piano/five sonatas for cello and piano; and six trios for piano, violin and cello with violinist James Ehnes and cellist Jan Vogler.
Recently Lortie has performed extensively with Maestro Masur in Paris and in January 2006 with the New York Philharmonic. Over four seasons, Lortie played and conducted the 27 Mozart Piano Concertos with the Montreal Symphony, culminating in 2006, the 250th anniversary of Mozart�s birth. Recent notable concerts include performances at the London Proms, at the Lincoln Center with Osmo Vanska, a return recital in Carnegie Hall, Internatioonal Piano Series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Halle Orchestra with Mark Elder and performances with Charles Dutoit and the New York Philharmonic.
Forthcoming highlights include orchestral performances with the CBSO, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra, a UK Tour with the ONF and a performance at the Frankfurt Alte Oper (again under Maestro Masur), Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, RNSO and the Het Brabants Orchestra. In recital�s Mr Lortie will perform two concerts at the Berlin Konzerthaus (with Michaela Schuster and Helene Mercier), Aldeburgh Festival, Orford Summer Festival, Moritzburg Festival, Valdemossa Chopin Festival and he will perform a Beethoven Cycle in Seville in January 2008.
Lortie has made over 30 recordings on the Chandos label, ranging from Mozart to Stravinsky. His recording of Beethoven�s Eroica Variations won the Edison Award, and his disc of Schumann�s Bunte Blatter and other works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine. He has recorded Ravel�s complete works for piano and has almost completed the 32 Beethoven sonatas. His recording of the complete Chopin Etudes, opp. 10 and 25, has been cited by BBC Music Magazine�s special Piano Issue as one of �50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists�. Mr. Lortie�s most recent CD release is the final recording in his three-CD series of Liszt�s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague. It was immediately named �Editor�s Choice� by Gramophone Magazine. In addition to the current Liszt recordings, other recent releases include To the Distant Beloved, with works by Beethoven, Schumann and Liszt, and Franck�s Symphonic Variations with the BBC Symphony.
Born in Montréal, Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montréal Symphony at the age of thirteen and the Toronto Symphony three years later, which as a result, engaged him for an historic tour of the People�s Republic of China and Japan. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992 he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Laval University. As his schedule permits, he teaches at Italy�s renowned piano institute at Imola. Lortie has lived in Berlin since 1997 but also has a home in Canada.