Leif Ove Andsnes: new Geirr Tveitt album & Beethoven 3 with Chicago & Atlanta Symphonies this spring
(February 2026) — When celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes featured the sole surviving piano sonata by his compatriot Geirr Tveitt at New York’s Carnegie Hall, The New York Times chose his recital as one of the “Best Classical Performances of 2025.” Now, Andsnes complements the sonata with a selection of the composer’s piano pieces and songs on Geirr Tveitt: Sonata No. 29, Folk Tunes and Songs, due for physical and digital release on Norway’s Simax label on April 24. Spring also sees Andsnes return to the States for accounts of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, first with the Atlanta Symphony under Nathalie Stutzmann (March 5–7) and then with the Chicago Symphony under Jakub Hrůša (March 12–14). These high-profile engagements follow the success of the pianist’s recent U.S. solo recital tour and of his Schubert four-hands recording with Bertrand Chamayou, hailed as “an instant classic” (Gramophone).
New Geirr Tveitt album release (April 24)
Although Geirr Tveitt (1908–81) was one of the 20th century’s most distinctive and prolific Norwegian composers, today his music is seldom heard outside his homeland. This owes in no small part to the devastating 1970 house fire that destroyed almost 300 of his compositions – about eighty percent of his total output – and left him struggling to compose for the remainder of his life. Keen to share Tveitt’s music with a wider audience, Andsnes has regularly championed his countryman’s work over the past two seasons, giving many live performances of Sonata No. 29, “Sonata etere” (Ethereal Sonata), the only piano sonata to escape the fire, which Andsnes considers “the most ambitious solo piano piece by a Norwegian composer.” He explains:
“The ‘Sonata etere’ is a gigantic piece of music built on two simple melodies with many variations. It is a tough piece to play, but very rewarding. With Russian rhythmic influences combined with touches of French music and folk music, Tveitt really is in a world all his own. His sonata is fantastically colorful in its writing for the instrument, full of tension in its architecture, harmony, and rhythm.”
Listeners have been quick to recognize the pianist’s way with Tveitt’s music. After his account of the “Sonata etere” at London’s Wigmore Hall, The Guardian pronounced Andsnes “an insightful champion” of the work. Likewise, characterizing the sonata as one “that alchemizes modernist experimentation and folk memory into shimmering, spectral soundscapes,” The New York Times found Andsnes’s Carnegie Hall performance of the piece “unexpectedly moving.”
Andsnes has now committed this interpretation to disc. April 24 brings the release by Simax of Geirr Tveitt: Sonata No. 29, Folk Tunes and Songs, on which he complements the sonata with several of Tveitt’s songs and a selection of piano pieces from the composer’s Femti folkatonar frao Hardanger (“Fifty Folktunes from Hardanger”). For the songs – settings of Norwegian verse that fuse modernist harmonies with folk elements – Andsnes will accompany his sister, soprano Solveig Andsnes. As detailed below, three singles are being issued in advance of the album release: one of the Songs (March 20); “What beer!” from Fifty Folk Tunes (April 10); and the opening movement of the sonata, released earlier this month and available now for streaming.
Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in Atlanta (March 5–7) & Chicago (March 12–14)
This March, Andsnes joins two major American orchestras for Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. With the Atlanta Symphony and Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann, he gives three performances (March 5–7), of which the second will stream live to home audiences in the orchestra’s “Behind the Curtain” series (March 6). Next, after giving a sold-out solo recital in the Skyline Piano Artist Series at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music (March 9), he reprises the concerto with Jakub Hrůša and the Chicago Symphony (March 12–14). Andsnes’s previous collaborations with the orchestra include season-opening performances of the Grieg concerto in 2019, when the Chicago Sun Times reported:
“The pianist delivered nothing shy of a definitive performance of this ever-popular masterpiece, playing with poetic elegance, unyielding clarity and nuanced touch. Never overselling or pushing too hard, he conveyed the innate romanticism and beauty of this music.”
After these high-profile U.S. engagements, Andsnes reprises Beethoven’s Third with six European orchestras: Italy’s Filarmonica della Scala (March 29 & 30), the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (April 30 & May 1), Portugal’s Gulbenkian Orchestra (May 7 & 8), Germany’s Bamberg Symphony (May 22 & 23), France’s Orchestre National de Lyon (June 11 & 13), and the London Symphony Orchestra, where he reunites with Stutzmann (May 14).
Beethoven’s music has been a central focus of Andsnes’s career for many years. The Beethoven Journey, his recording of the composer’s complete music for piano and orchestra, was chosen as one of The New York Times’s “Best of 2014” and recognized with BBC Music Magazine’s “2015 Recording of the Year Award.” Similarly, his live performances of complete Beethoven concerto cycles at Carnegie Hall and London’s BBC Proms were chosen among the “Best of 2015” by The New York Times and The Guardian respectively. About his accounts of Beethoven’s First and Third Piano Concertos, Gramophone writes:
“These performances are not simply about élan and energy: they have a sense of gravitas, too, of rightness, that you find in the greatest Beethoven interpreters… . This isn’t something that is achieved by big, ballsy playing but rather by a sense of balance, of musicality, of understanding not only the notes themselves but the wider context – where these pieces stand within Beethoven’s output and a broader historical perspective, too.”
Recent successes: U.S. recital tour & Schubert four-hands album
Andsnes’s forthcoming album and concerto collaborations follow a pair of recent successes. At last month’s U.S. solo recital tour, critics praised his program of Schumann, Janáček, and Kurtág as “a meditation on economy and focus” (Bachtrack) that enabled the pianist to “flex his expressive power in different ways” (Classical Voice San Francisco). As EarRelevant put it:
“Andsnes underscored a throughline of intimacy and psychological nuance that connected Romantic and modern idioms. The result was a recital that felt thoughtfully constructed rather than merely eclectic, offering listeners a sustained exploration of how composers across eras have used the piano as a vehicle for inward reflection.”
Running its review under the headline “Leif Ove Andsnes Blows Us Away,” the Boston Music Intelligencer wrote:
“Andsnes surprises and thrills, but not cheaply. He revitalizes works that we know well (or think that we know well), giving them new power and beauty through distinctive pianistic approaches. … The result is spell-binding.”
Similarly, the New York Classical Review proclaimed Andsnes’s Carnegie Hall recital “a ravishing, deeply beautiful performance,” that confirmed his standing as a “perfect pianist.”
Andsnes enjoyed a comparably heartfelt response to Warner Classics’ release of Schubert: Four Hands last fall. Recorded with fellow pianist Bertrand Chamayou, this was chosen as January’s “Recording of the Month” and heralded as “an instant classic” by Gramophone magazine, which wrote:
“Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou … consistently transcend matters of ensemble synchronicity and textural balances, going directly to the music’s heart and soul. … Let’s hope for a sequel (or two, or three), while cherishing this delectable release, which every Schubert lover and piano-duo maven should own.”
In a five-star review, BBC Music Magazine praised the duo’s “exquisite sensitivity,” and The Guardian affirmed:
“Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou are thoughtful musicians, and it’s immediately apparent from these affectionately searching accounts that they possess an emotional synergy.”
As The Times of London concluded, also in a five-star review: “This is a divine album.”
Leif Ove Andsnes: Geirr Tveitt Sonata No. 29, Folk Tunes and Songs
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
With Solveig Andsnes, vocals (in Songs)
Release date (album): April 24, 2026
Label: Simax Classics
Formats: CD; Limited Edition LP; Digital (incl. Dolby Atmos)
Program:
Sonata No. 29, Op. 129, “Sonata etere”
Fifty Folk Tunes from Hardanger, Op. 150 (selection)
Songs (selection)
Release dates of advance singles:
- Feb 20: Piano Sonata No. 29, first movement
- March 20: “Vi skal ikkje sova burt sumarnatta” from Songs
- April 10: “What beer!” from Fifty Folk Tunes from Hardanger
Leif Ove Andsnes: upcoming engagements
Feb 26 & 27
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Philharmonic / Thomas Søndergård
Ørjan MATRE: Piano Concerto (world premiere)
March 5–7
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra / Nathalie Stutzmann
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
(March 6: “Behind The Curtain” live performance video capture)
March 9
Evanston, IL
Northwestern University, Galvin Recital Hall
Skyline Piano Artist Series
Solo recital
March 12–14
Chicago, IL
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Jakub Hrůša
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
March 17
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection of Mazurkas
JANÁČEK: On an Overgrown Path, Book I
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
March 27
Lucerne, Switzerland
Lucerne Festival
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
March 29 & 30
Milan, Italy
Teatro alla Scala
Filarmonica della Scala / Myung-whun Chung
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
April 11 & 12
Haugesund, Norway
Festiviteten Haugesund Konserthus
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
April 16 & 17
Bergen, Norway
Grieg Hall
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner
Ørjan MATRE: Piano Concerto (Bergen premiere)
April 22
Vilnius, Lithuania
Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall
Solo recital:
R. SCHUMANN: 4 Klavierstücke, Op.32
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
April 23
Tallinn, Estonia
Estonia Kontserdisaal
Solo recital:
R. SCHUMANN: 4 Klavierstücke, Op.32
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
April 25
Järna, Sweden
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
April 30 & May 1
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Antonello Manacorda
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
May 3
Rosendal, Norway
Solo recital:
Program to include music by CHOPIN
May 7 & 8
Lisbon, Portugal
Gulbenkian Orchestra / Hannu Lintu
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
May 14
London, UK
London Symphony Orchestra / Nathalie Stutzmann
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
May 22 & 23
Bamberg, Germany
Bamberg Symphony / Kazuki Yamada
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
June 5
Arnhem, Netherlands
Musis Sacrum / Schouwburg Arnhem
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
June 6
Groningen, Netherlands
SPOT Groningen / De Oosterpoort
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
June 11 & 13
Lyon, France
Orchestre National de Lyon / Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3
June 26
Schloss Elmau / Oberbayern, Germany
Schloss Elmau
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
June 29
Copenhagen, Denmark
Tivoli Gardens
Solo recital:
CHOPIN: selection TBA
György KURTÁG: Játékok (selections)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28
Aug 8
Vinstra, Norway
Peer Gynt Festival
Recital with Marius Neset, saxophone; Opus13 string quartet