Leif Ove Andsnes: returns to DC’s National Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, & others; transatlantic solo recital tour; Wigmore residency; & more in 2024-25

(August 2024) — Over the coming season, two concertos figure prominently for Leif Ove
Andsnes, “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight” (New York Times). His
concert highlights include performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with
Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,
and of Rachmaninov’s Third with the Berlin Philharmonic and London Philharmonic,
among others. He also plays Debussy’s rarely heard Fantaisie with the NDR
Elbphilharmonie Orchestra at the Hamburg International Music Festival and debuts a
new solo program of Chopin, Grieg, and the little-known Geirr Tveitt on an extensive
transatlantic recital tour, featuring dates at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s
Wigmore Hall. The latter forms part of a season-long residency at the British venue, to
which Andsnes returns for chamber collaborations with fellow pianist Bertrand
Chamayou and with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, as the culmination of their
European tour. Already a seven-time Gramophone Award winner and eleven-time Grammy
nominee, the celebrated Norwegian pianist expands his discography with the fall release of
Who We Are, a collaboration with acclaimed jazz saxophonist and composer Marius Neset.

Beethoven’s “Emperor,” Rachmaninov’s Third, and other concertos

One of Andsnes’s most ambitious projects to date was “The Beethoven Journey,” a
four-season focus on the composer’s music for piano and orchestra. Released as a boxed set
by Sony Classical, his Beethoven concertos were recognized with BBC Music’s Recording of
the Year, iTunes’ Best Instrumental Album of the Year, and Belgium’s Prix Caecilia, while his
interpretation of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto drew praise for its “arresting
maturity, stylistic acumen and utter delight” (The Telegraph, UK). This fall, Andsnes
reprises the “Emperor” for his sole U.S. concerto collaboration of 2024-25, in
performances with the National Symphony Orchestra and music director Gianandrea
Noseda in Washington, DC (Oct 10–13). Beethoven’s concerto is also the vehicle for the
pianist’s appearances with three major European orchestras. He plays it with the Oslo
Philharmonic and chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä, in season-opening concerts (Aug 28 &
29) and subsequent fall dates in Oslo, Vienna, and Hamburg (Oct 25–Nov 1). After
revisiting the concerto with Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
and Grammy nominee Maxim Emelyanychev (Nov 7–9), Andsnes performs it once again
with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of BBC Symphony chief
conductor Sakari Oramo (Nov 28–30).

The pianist has won similar acclaim with Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, of which
his recording with the London Symphony Orchestra prompted The Guardian to declare:
“The passion burns from within in this incendiary account.” This fall, he performs the
concerto with Italy’s Mahler Academy Orchestra and guest conductor Philipp von
Steinaecker on a North European tour. Including stops in Amsterdam, Vienna, and
Cologne, this forms part of the orchestra’s “Originalklang-Project”; drawing on new
findings about historical performance practice, the musicians will perform on period
instruments, Andsnes playing a historical Steinway model identical to that on which
Rachmaninov performed his creation under Mahler’s leadership in 1910 (Sep 8–13).
Andsnes goes on to reprise the concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and
principal conductor Edward Gardner (Sep 28); in the Netherlands and Belgium with the
Rotterdam Philharmonic and Opernwelt’s Conductor of the Year Joana Mallwitz (Oct
3–6); and with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Juraj Valčuha (Nov 14-17).
Finally, Andsnes reunites with Mäkelä next spring for two performances of Rachmaninov’s
concerto at Baden-Baden’s Easter Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic (April 13 &
19).

This marks the pianist’s second engagement of 2024-25 with the Berlin Philharmonic,
following performances of Mozart’s 20th Piano Concerto with venerable conductor
Herbert Blomstedt (Dec 19–21). The concerto is one of those featured on MM/1785; the
first recording yielded by Andsnes’s “Mozart Momentum 1785/86” project, this was
nominated for a 2022 International Classical Music Award and recognized with France’s
prestigious Diapason d’or de l’année for Best Concerto Album of 2021.

Collaborations with four more orchestras complete Andsnes’s concert season. He performs
Grieg’s Piano Concerto, of which he is one of today’s leading exponents, with both the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic under Ryan Bancroft (Jan 23 & 25) and the Czech
Philharmonic under Jakub Hrůša (April 24–26). With the Barcelona Symphony and
Gemma New, he pairs Haydn’s Eleventh Piano Concerto with Franck’s Variations
symphoniques (May 30 & 31), which he couples with Debussy’s Fantaisie for appearances
with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and chief conductor Alan Gilbert at the
Hamburg International Music Festival (May 8–11). Andsnes previously performed
Debussy’s seldom-programmed work “with easy virtuosity and panache” (New York
Times) during his tenure as Artist-in-Residence of the New York Philharmonic.

Transatlantic recital tour with new solo program of Chopin, Grieg, and Tveitt

Andsnes regularly champions little-known works, bringing rare gems to audiences
worldwide. The centerpiece of his new solo program is the only surviving piano sonata by
his compatriot Geirr Tveitt (1908-81), a prolific Norwegian collector and arranger of folk
tunes. Little of Tveitt’s music was published and in 1970, when his studio burned to the
ground, some 80 per cent of his output was lost. Surviving compositions include the Sonata
Etere, one of the composer’s few large-scale works. Andsnes, who first championed Tveitt’s
music on his 2007 recording Long Long Winter Night, explains:

“Tveitt studied both as pianist and composer in Leipzig, Paris, and Vienna, and one can hear
these traces in his piano writing, maybe most clearly the influence of French piano music.
The sonata is very colorful and he uses the instrument in the most imaginative ways. It’s an
epic piece, but the simplicity of folk music runs through it. Tveitt wanted to get to the roots
of the folk music, and he was quite obsessed with using different modal scales, which one
often finds in folk music from different countries.”

In the pianist’s new program, Tveitt’s sonata will be heard alongside Grieg’s sole piano
sonata and Chopin’s 24 Preludes. As well as touring this program throughout Europe (Jan
5–Feb 8), with stops in Stavanger, Bødo, Monte Carlo, Lucerne, Stockholm,
Copenhagen, Turin, and Florence – as well as Frankfurt (June 13) and London (Jan 12),
where the recital marks the first of his three-performance Wigmore Hall residency –
Andsnes takes it to the United States. There he performs it in Philadelphia (March 21),
Baltimore (March 23), Cleveland (March 27), St. Paul, MN (March 28), Aliso Viejo, CA
(March 30), and Berkeley (April 1), as well as returning to the main stage of New York’s
Carnegie Hall (March 25). Last year, his recital at the venue was a New York Times Critic’s
Pick that showcased his “committed playing and interpretive wisdom.”

Wigmore residency and chamber collaborations

Andsnes returns twice more to London’s Wigmore Hall over the coming season. With
members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, his artistic partner on both “The Beethoven
Journey” and “Mozart Momentum 1785/86,” he performs chamber music by Poulenc,
Vierne, Ravel, and Stravinsky at the London venue (March 12) as the final stop of a
European tour that also takes in Germany’s Hitzacker, Luxembourg, and Brussels (March
7–11). He completes the season-long Wigmore residency with a four-hands recital of music
by Schubert and György Kurtág with fellow pianist Bertrand Chamayou (May 21), with
whom he also performs Schubert in Milan the previous night (May 20). After one of
Andsnes’s previous Chamayou collaborations, the Edinburgh Music Review marveled:

“There was unanimity of musical voice and phrasing, the two players playing as one. This
doesn’t just happen. It needs work and commitment and an element of chemistry. Clearly
this artistic rapport is there.”

Who We Are, collaborative new recording

September 20 brings the physical and digital release by Simax of Who We Are, the first
studio recording to capture the collaboration between Andsnes and Norwegian jazz
composer and saxophonist Marius Neset. Synthesizing the traditions and associated
conventions of jazz and classical music, all works on the album are composed by Neset – the
only European chosen as one of Downbeat’s “25 for the Future – including the title track,
which was commissioned by Andsnes as founding director of Norway’s Rosendal Chamber
Music Festival, where it has twice been performed in concert. Joined by flutist Ingrid
Søfteland Neset and cellist Louisa Tuck, he and the composer recorded the album last
December at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio. Click here to hear an excerpt from Who We Are.

Click here to download high-resolution photos.

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Leif Ove Andsnes: 2024-25 engagements

Aug 28 & 29
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Philharmonic / Klaus Mäkelä (Opening Night)
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

Sep 8–13: European tour with Mahler Academy Orchestra / Philipp von Steinaecker
Sep 8: Toblach, Italy (Grand Hotel)
Sep 10: Bolzano, Italy (Teatro Comunale)
Sep 11: Vienna, Austria (Konzerthaus)
Sep 12: Amsterdam, Netherlands (Concertgebouw)
Sep 13: Cologne, Germany (Philharmonie)
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

Sep 28
London, England
Royal Festival Hall
London Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

Oct 3–6: European tour with Rotterdam Philharmonic / Joana Mallwitz
Oct 3: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Oct 5: Heerlen, Netherlands
Oct 6: Brussels, Belgium
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

Oct 10, 11, & 13
Washington, DC
Kennedy Center
National Symphony Orchestra / Gianandrea Noseda
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

Oct 25–Nov 1: concert and tour with Oslo Philharmonic / Klaus Mäkelä
Oct 25: Oslo, Norway
Oct 30: Vienna, Austria
Nov 1: Hamburg, Germany
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

Nov 7–9
Rome, Italy
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Maxim Emelyanychev
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

Nov 14-17: concerts with Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra / Juraj Valčuha
Nov 14 & 15: Stuttgart, Germany
Nov 17: Freiburg, Germany
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

Nov 28–30
Leipzig, Germany
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra / Sakari Oramo
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”

Dec 19–21
Berlin, Germany
Berlin Philharmonic / Herbert Blomstedt
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20

Jan 8–Feb 8: European solo recital tour
Jan 5: Stavanger, Norway
Jan 8: Bødo, Norway
Jan 10: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Jan 12: London, England (Wigmore Hall; residency)
Jan 14: Lucerne, Switzerland (“Grand Recital: Leif Ove Andsnes; Martha Argerich & Friends”
Jan 26: Stockholm, Sweden
Jan 31: Copenhagen, Denmark
Feb 7: Turin, Italy
Feb 8: Florence, Italy
GRIEG: Piano Sonata
G. TVEITT: Piano Sonata No. 29, “Sonata Etere”
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes

Jan 23 & 25
Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / Ryan Bancroft
GRIEG: Piano Concerto

March 7–12: European tour with Mahler Chamber Orchestra dates:
March 7 & 9: Hitzacker, Germany
March 10: Luxembourg
March 11 Brussels, Belgium
March 12: London, England (Wigmore Hall; residency)
STRAVINSKY: Septet
RAVEL: Le tombeau de Couperin
POULENC: Sextet for Piano and Winds
VIERNE: Piano Quintet

March 21–April 1: U.S. solo recital tour
March 21: Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; Perelman Theater)
March 23: Baltimore, MD (Shriver Hall)
March 25: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
March 27: Cleveland, OH
March 28: St. Paul, MN
March 30: Aliso Viejo, CA
April 1: Berkeley, CA (Cal Performances)
GRIEG: Piano Sonata
G. TVEITT: Piano Sonata No. 29, “Sonata Etere”
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes

April 13 & 19
Baden-Baden, Germany
Easter Festival
Berlin Philharmonic / Klaus Mäkelä
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

April 24–26
Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Philharmonic / Jakub Hrůša
GRIEG: Piano Concerto

May 8, 9, & 11
Hamburg, Germany
Hamburg International Music Festival
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alan Gilbert
DEBUSSY: Fantaisie
FRANCK: Variations symphoniques

May 20
Milan, Italy
Piano four-hands recital with Bertrand Chamayou, piano
SCHUBERT: Rondo in A (four-hands)
SCHUBERT: Allegro in A minor, “Lebensstürme” (four-hands)
SCHUBERT: Fugue in E minor (solo)
SCHUBERT: Impromptu D.935 No. 1 (solo)
SCHUBERT: Fantasie in F minor (four-hands)

May 21
London, England
Wigmore Hall (residency)
Piano four-hands recital with Bertrand Chamayou, piano
SCHUBERT: Rondo in A (four-hands)
SCHUBERT: Allegro in A minor, “Lebensstürme” (four-hands)
SCHUBERT: Fugue in E minor (solo)
SCHUBERT: Fantasie in F minor (four-hands)
KURTÁG: Selections from Játékok (solo and four-hands)

May 30 & 31
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra / Gemma New
HAYDN: Piano Concerto No. 11
FRANCK: Variations symphoniques

June 13
Frankfurt, Germany
Solo recital:
GRIEG: Piano Sonata
G. TVEITT: Piano Sonata No. 29, “Sonata Etere”
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes

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