Louis Lortie

Louis Lortie has earned an international reputation as a versatile musician critically acclaimed for the fresh perspective and individuality he brings to the grand masters of the piano repertoire. In demand on five continents for more than thirty years, Louis Lortie performs with the most prestigious orchestras and in major concert halls around the world. A prolific artist, he has produced more than 45 recordings for Chandos Records featuring the pillars of piano literature. He is followed by more than 300,000 listeners monthly on streaming platforms and generated more than 6 illion streams in 2022.

In Great Britain, his long-standing relationship with the BBC, the BBC Symphony and BBC Philharmonic orchestras have resulted in numerous recordings and concerts as well than more than ten invitations at the BBC Proms. In his native Canada, for half a century, he has regularly played with all the major orchestras: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary. Close collaborator of Kurt Masur, he was a regular soloist with the Orchestre National de France and the Gewandhaus orchestra during his tenure as Music Director. He has also collaborated with the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig MDR Orchestra in Germany and the United States, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony , San Diego Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony. Further afield, his collaborations include the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra where he was Artist in Residence, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, as well as the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil. Regular partnerships with chefs include, among others, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner, Sir Andrew Davis, Jaap Van Zweden, Simone Young, Antoni Wit and Thierry Fischer.

In recital and in chamber music, Louis Lortie regularly performs at Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Hall, the Beethovenfest Bonn and the Liszt Festival Raiding. He is particularly sought after for his integral of the Years of Pilgrimage of Liszt in one evening, the Etudes of Chopins (complete) in one evening, or his cycles of Beethoven sonatas; the latest one was filmed at the Salle Bourgie in Montreal and broadcast on Medici TV in 2021. For more than twenty years, with Hélène Mercier, the Lortie-Mercier duo has brought new perspectives on the repertoire for four hands and two pianos in concert as well as their numerous recordings.

His discography, exclusively for Chandos records, includes, in the solo piano repertoire, 7 volumes of works by Chopin, Beethoven’s 32 sonatas, the complete works of Ravel, Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage and two volumes of works by Faure. With Edward Gardner he recorded Lutoslawksi’s Concerto and Variations on a Theme of Paganini with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, particularly praised by critics, as well as the complete concertos of Saint-Saens with the Orchester Philharmonique de la BBC or the Vaughan Williams concerto with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Peter Oundjian.

Louis Lortie is co-founder and Artistic Director of the LacMus Festival, which has been held yearly since 2017 on Lake Como. He was master in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels from 2017 to 2022; he continues to mentor pianists of exceptional talent by introducing the new generation through concert cycles, recently a cycle of Beethoven/Liszt symphonies at Wigmore Hall and the Dresden International Festival as well as the Scriabin Marathon at the LacMus and Bolzano Bozen Festivals .

Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen, in 1984, he won the first prize of the Busoni competition and the fourth prize of the Leeds Competition. He studied with Yvonne Hubert (student of the legendary Alfred Cortot ), with Dieter Weber in Vienna, then with Leon Fleisher. He was honored with the title of “Officer of the Order of Canada” in 1992, and “Chevalier Ordre national du Québec” in 1997, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Laval the same year.

Repertoire

Concerto list
  • ADÉS

Concerto Conciso

  • BACH, J.S
Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056
  • BEETHOVEN
Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19
Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Op. 37
Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)
Triple Concerto, Op. 56
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 (original transcription for Piano and Orchestra)
  • BRAHMS
Concerto No. 1 in d minor, Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op.83
  • CHOPIN
Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Op. 11
Concerto No. 2 in f minor, Op. 21
Krakowiak (Rondo), Op. 14
Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise, Op. 22
Variations in B-flat on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano”, Op. 2
Grand Fantasy on Polish Airs, Op. 13
  • DEBUSSY
Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra
  • DE FALLA
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
  • D’INDY
Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français, for piano and orchestra
  • FRANCK
Symphonic Variations
  • GERSHWIN
Rhapsody in Blue
  • GRIEG
Concerto in a minor, Op. 16
  • LISZT
Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major
Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Concerto No. 3
Concerto pathétique
De Profundis
Fantasy on Hungarian Folk-tunes
Fantasy on themes from Berlioz’ “Lelio”
Fantasy on themes from Beethoven’s “Ruins of Athens”
Malédiction for Piano and Strings
Polonaise Brillante
Totentanz
  • (SCHUBERT-LISZT)
Wandererfantasie
  • LUTOSLAWSKI
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Paganini Variations
  • MENDELSSOHN
Concerto No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25
Concerto No. 2 in d minor, Op.40
Serenade and Allegro
Capriccio Brillante
Rondo Brillante
Concerto for 2 Pianos in E major
Concerto in a minor for Piano and Strings
Double Concerto in d minor for Violin, Piano and Strings
  • MOZART
Concerto No.5 in D major, K.175
Concerto No.6 in B-flat major, K.238
Concerto No.7 in F major for 3 Pianos, K.242
Concerto No.8 in C major, K.246
Concerto No.9 in E-flat major, K.271
Concerto No.10 in E-flat major for 2 Pianos, K.365
Concerto No.11 in F major, K.413
Concerto No.12 in A major, K.414
Concerto No.13 in C major, K.415
Concerto No.14 in E-flat major, K.449
Concerto No.15 in B-flat major, K.450
Concerto No.16 in D major, K.451
Concerto No.17, in G major, K.453
Concerto No.18 in B-flat major, K.456
Concerto No.19 in F major, K.459
Concerto No.20 in d minor, K.466
Concerto No.21 in C Major, K.467
Concerto No.22 in E-flat Major, K.482
Concerto No.23 in A Major, K.488
Concerto No.24 in c minor, K.491
Concerto No.25 in C Major, K.503
Concerto No.26 in D Major, K.537
Concerto No.27 in B-flat Major, K.595
  • POULENC
Aubade for Piano and 18 instruments
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
  • PROKOFIEV
Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major
Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
  • RACHMANINOV
Concerto No. 2 in c minor, Op. 18
Concerto No. 3 in d minor, Op. 30
Concerto No. 4 in g minor, Op. 40
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
  • RAVEL
Concerto in G Major
Concerto in D Major (left hand)
  • SAINT-SAËNS
Concerto No.1 in D, Op. 17
Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 22
Concerto No. 4 in C, Op. 44
Concerto No. 5 in F, Op. 103
Carnival of the Animals (2 pianos)
Africa: Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra
Wedding Cake
  • SCHUMANN
Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Konzertstuck, Op. 86
Introduction and Allegro de Concert Op. 134
Introduction and Allegro Appassionato Op. 92
  • SZYMANOWSKI
Symphony No. 4
  • TCHAIKOVSKY
Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor, Op. 23
Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 44
Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 75/79
Concert Fantasy in G Major, Op. 56
  • VERESS
Hommage à Paul Klee for Two Pianos and Strings

Links

Louis Lortie’s website
http://www.louislortie.com/
Arts Management Group (management for North America)
https://www.artsmg.com/
Lorenzo Baldrighi Artist Management (management for Italy)
http://www.baldrighi.com/
Chandos Records
https://www.chandos.net/Home
LacMus Festival
http://lacmusfestival.com/en/
Fazioli
http://www.fazioli.com/en
Bösendorfer
https://www.boesendorfer.com/en