Steven Osborne
Piano
Artist Images
Program
About the Artist
Steven Osborne is widely recognized as one of the “very finest of pianists” (The Guardian, May 2015), whose insightful and idiomatic interpretations of diverse repertoire show an immense musical depth. His numerous awards include The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year (2013) and two Gramophone Awards for recordings of Britten’s works for piano and orchestra and of solo works by Prokofiev and Mussorgsky.
Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to major orchestras all over the world including recent visits to the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Salzburg Mozarteum, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National Radio, National Orchestra of Spain, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. He has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Christoph von Dohnanyi, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stéphane Denève, Ludovic Morlot, Juanjo Mena, Leif Segerstam, Andrew Litton, Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Jurowski and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
He is a favorite soloist of British orchestras working especially with the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras. He recently completed the cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos with the BBC Scottish Symphony partnered with Andrew Manze and in August made his twelfth appearance at the Proms.
Steven Osborne’s recitals of carefully crafted programs are publicly and critically acclaimed without exception. In recent seasons he has held residencies at both De Singel in Antwerp and at Wigmore Hall where his series of five concerts included repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev to Tippett. He has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, de Doelen Rotterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington, Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners include Alban Gerhardt, Paul Lewis, James Ehnes, Dietrich Henschel and Alina Ibragimova.
Highlights of 15/16 season include performances with the Oslo Philharmonic/Petrenko, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony/Kazushi Ono in Stockholm, Dresden Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony/Langrée, Gürzenich-orchester Köln, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and at the Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival with conductor Ed Gardner. Recital tours take him to Italy, Gent, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London’s International Piano Series and North America including Minneapolis, Denver, Colorado and Washington DC. At the Barbican Centre he takes part in the London Jazz Festival with the Britten Sinfonia and Eddie Gomez and gives a recital of works by George Crumb and Morten Feldman.
Steven Osborne has won many awards for his 22 recordings on Hyperion. In addition to the two Gramophone Awards his double CD of Ravel’s complete music for solo piano was shortlisted for a 2011 Gramophone Award and his recording of Rachmaninov’s 24 Preludes was short-listed for a 2009Gramophone Award and won a Schallplattenpreis whilst being chosen as “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, International Record Review, Musical Opinion and The Daily Telegraph. Both his recent release of Prokofiev Violin Sonatas with Alina Ibragimova and his double CD of works by Tippett were nominated for a BBC Music Magazine Award and his CD of Messiaen’s complete Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus was also nominated for both aGramophone Award and a Schallplattenpreis in Germany. His latest release featuring his own edition of Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 2 alongside Medtner Sonata was awarded an esteemed Choc in Classica Magazine and “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone. Other recordings include solo works by Beethoven, Debussy, Alkan, Liszt, Kapustin, Stravinsky’s works for piano and orchestra and Messiaen Turangalila with the Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena.
Born in Scotland, Steven Osborne studied with Richard Beauchamp at St. Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
Watch & Listen
Steven Osborne talks about his love for music and for the piano. He mentions his childhood, Beethoven, and Ravel.