Garrick OHLSSON piano (USA)

Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although he has long been regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frederic Chopin, Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. His past engagements include concertos with orchestras of the calibre of Pittsburgh Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Boston Symphony and Houston Symphony orchestras and with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the BBC Proms.

Ohlsson’s 2009/10 season includes engagements with the Atlanta Symphony (Rachmaninov/Spano); Indianapolis Symphony (Chopin/Bamert); New York Philharmonic (Martinu/Zhang); Baltimore Symphony (Beethoven); BBC Scottish Symphony (Martinu/Volkov); Warsaw Philharmonic (Chopin/Witt); Milwaukee Symphony (Chopin/de Waart); Tonkunstler Orchestra, Vienna (Brahms/Litton); Houston Symphony (Rachmaninov/Graf); and the San Francisco Symphony (Chopin/Tilson Thomas). He will give recitals at Symphony Hall, Chicago; the Perelman Theater, Philadelphia; at the Prague Spring Festival; and at Chopin’s house in Warsaw on the anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Ohlsson is an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takacs and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles. Together with violinist Jorja Fleezanis and cellist Michael Grebanier, he is a founding member of the San Francisco-based FOG Trio. His recital engagements have included appearances at the Ravinia, Tanglewood and Verbier Festivals. In 2008-9 Ohlsson’s recital programme focusing on the piano repertoire of Scriabin and his Russian contemporaries was herd in San Francisco, San Diego and at the 92nd Street Y. A recital series in 2006/7 took him to Boston, Cleveland, Florida, Los Angeles and San Francisco and culminated in three recitals of Beethoven sonatas at the Lincoln Center, New York.

A prolific recording artist, Ohlsson can be heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, Bridge, BMG, Delos, Haenssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels. His undertaking of the complete Beethoven sonatas for Bridge Records has already resulted in 3 discs all scheduled to be available during this season, the third of which won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance.