Widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and as a uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career which transcends traditional boundaries.
Performing throughout the world each season with the most significant orchestras and conductors, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has also been invited to create, direct and perform in groundbreaking residencies: recent venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wiener Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Opéra de Paris, the Lucerne Festival, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la Musique and Southbank Centre. In June 2010 he marked his second year as Artistic Director of the prestigious and historic Aldeburgh Festival inviting there for the first time Pierre Boulez and Leon Fleisher. He was presented with Germany’s Schallplattenkritik “Honorary Prize” in December 2009.
Highlights of the 2010/11 season include solo recitals in Berlin, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Vienna. He will reappear with The Cleveland Orchestra in a three-week tour in the United States under Franz Welser-Möst, and give concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Filarmonica della Scala, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, and Mahler Chamber orchestras.
Through professorships at the Hochschule Köln and Conservatoire de Paris, as well as numerous series of concert lectures and workshops worldwide, he sheds an inspiring and very personal light on music of all periods. During 2009 Aimard was invited to give a series of classes and seminars at the College de France, Paris. He was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award in spring 2005 and was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America in 2007.
Born in Lyon in 1957, Pierre-Laurent Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks included winning first prize in the 1973 Messiaen Competition and being appointed at the age of 19 by Pierre Boulez to become the Ensemble intercontemporain's first solo pianist. For more than 15 years Aimard collaborated closely with György Ligeti, recording his complete works for piano.
Pierre-Laurent now records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. His first DG release, Bach's Art of Fugue, received both the 'Diapason d'Or' and 'Choc du Monde de la Musique' awards, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's classical chart and topped iTunes’ classical album download chart. In recent years Pierre-Laurent has been honoured with ECHO Classic Awards: in 2003 for his recording of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt; in 2004 for his CD of Debussy’s Images and Etudes; more recently in 2009 for his latest recording of solo piano pieces, "Hommage à Messiaen". In addition, Aimard won a Grammy award for his recording of Ives’s Concord Sonata and Songs with Susan Graham in 2005, and his live recording of Mozart Piano Concertos Nos.17 and 18 and Mozart's Symphony No. 33 received MIDEM’s first Classical Award in their download category.
His latest disc for DG of Ravel’s Piano Concertos and Miroirs, recorded live with The Cleveland Orchestra and Pierre Boulez, has been released worldwide in August 2010.
