Pierre-Laurent Aimard tours Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, to NYC, Boston, & Detroit (April 11–17)
(March 2026) — As noted by The New York Times, Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s new recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II shows the Grammy-winning French pianist “at the apex of his musicianship: technique and imagination at the service of sheer expressive intensity.” Now Aimard gives his first complete live performances of Bach’s masterpiece in the States, with dedicated solo recitals at Detroit’s Seligman Performing Arts Center (April 11), New York’s 92nd Street Y (April 15), and Boston’s Vivo Performing Arts (formerly known as the Celebrity Series; April 17), followed by a reprise at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall (May 9). While in New York, he also offers two days of masterclasses to students at the city’s Juilliard School (April 12 & 13).
With “a restless intellect as incisive in Bach as he is intelligible in Boulez” (The New York Times), Aimard is not only a key figure in the music of our time but also a leading exponent of the core piano repertoire. Following the success of his 2008 recording of Bach’s The Art of Fugue, which topped both the Billboard and iTunes classical charts, he embarked on a scholarly and immersive study of the composer’s Well-Tempered Clavier at Berlin’s Institute for Advanced Study. As a result, his 2014 Deutsche Grammophon release of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I was hailed as “a new benchmark recording” (NDR Radio, Germany) that earned him “a secure place among the masters” (Die Welt, Germany).
Now, more than a decade later, Aimard has resumed his deep engagement with the project. Released last October by Pentatone, his recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II drew glowing praise on both sides of the Atlantic. Gramophone magazine observed:
“The pervading impression is of white-light clarity. Aimard’s gift for contrapuntal transparency is exceptional, and it is hard to imagine anyone performing in a fugue with greater focus, achieved by meticulous internal balancing of lines and the texture-clearing techniques of minimal pedalling and neatly chiselled articulation.”
In its five-star review, BBC Music Magazine affirmed:
“The pleasures of this CD are manifold, thanks to Aimard’s super-light touch and his subtle deployment of infinitesimal gradations of volume and tempo. When confronted with a magnificent stream of lyric melody in the Prelude in F sharp minor, he doesn’t emotionally overstate. And when he goes exceptionally fast – as he quite often does – his playing still has clarity, grace and at times a touch of mischief.”
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Aimard’s upcoming appearance at New York’s 92nd Street Y marks his second of the season. Last November, he gave a recital at the venue showcasing two works written for him by Sir George Benjamin. Of his account of Shadowlines, the New York Classical Review concluded:
“This is music about unsettling language, and Aimard played it with the type of command that made it sound spontaneous. … Beyond his technical control, the pianist’s thinking was impressive, treating each moment as equal to the others.”
When Benjamin joined him at the keyboard for the New York premiere of DIVISIONS, the English composer’s new piece for piano, four hands, the New York Classical Review found:
“The balance between cooperation and antagonism built to a suspenseful climax, hanging in the air as one was eager to hear how it would resolve. It did so with exciting force, Aimard rippling through fast, high phrases while Benjamin pounded bass notes. As challenging as the first hearing of something can be, one wanted to immediately hear this again.”
Sequenza21 agreed of the performance: “One hopes this serves double duty as rehearsals for a forthcoming recording.”
Messiaen in Europe & Brazil
As a leading exponent of the modernist canon and a former student of Yvonne Loriod, the late French composer’s wife, Aimard is “a peerless interpreter of Messiaen’s music” (The Boston Globe). To complete his season, the pianist returns to Messiaen’s catalogue, performing the Turangalîla Symphony with the Barcelona Symphony (April 23–25), the Oiseaux exotiques – alongside Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D – with Brazil’s Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (May 14–16), and featuring the transcendent Quatuor pour la fin du temps in chamber evenings with clarinetist Jörg Widmann, violinist Isabelle Faust, and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras in Cologne (May 19), Luxembourg (May 20), Vienna (May 21), Amsterdam (May 23), and Hamburg (May 24).
Pierre-Laurent Aimard: upcoming engagements
April 11–17: U.S. solo recital tour
April 11: Detroit, MI (Seligman Performing Arts Center)
April 15: New York, NY (Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY)
April 17: Boston, MA (Vivo Performing Arts)
BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
April 12 & 13
New York, NY
The Juilliard School
Masterclasses
April 21
Madrid, Spain
Solo recital
Works by MOZART, SCHUBERT, SCHOENBERG, & György KURTÁG
April 23–25: concerts with Barcelona Symphony Orchestra / Jonathan Nott
April 23: Madrid, Spain
April 24 & 25: Barcelona, Spain
MESSIAEN: Turangalîla Symphony
May 9
London, UK
Southbank Centre (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
BACH: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
May 14–16
São Paulo, Brazil
Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo / Thierry Fischer
HAYDN: Piano Concerto in D, Hob.XVIII:11
MESSIAEN: Oiseaux exotiques
May 19–24: chamber recital tour with Jörg Widmann, clarinet; Isabelle Faust, violin; Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
May 19: Cologne, Germany (Philharmonie)
May 20: Luxembourg (Philharmonie)
May 21: Vienna, Austria (Konzerthaus)
May 23: Amsterdam, Netherlands (Muziekgebouw)
May 24: Hamburg, Germany (Elbphilharmonie)
BERG: Vier Stücke, Op. 5
CARTER: Epigrams for Piano, Violin & Cello
MESSIAEN: Quatuor pour la fin du temps