Louis Lortie

The highly-esteemed French Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range of repertoire rather than choosing to specialize in one particular style. The London Times has identified the artist’s “combination of total spontaneity and meditated ripeness that only great pianists have”.

Recent concerts include appearances with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, amongst others. Mr. Lortie has been named Artist in Residence of the Shanghai Symphony for the 2017-2018 season, which will include a tour of performances in Tibet. He has made more than 45 recordings for the Chandos label, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a set of the complete Beethoven sonatas and the complete Liszt “Annees de Pelerinage”, which was named one of the ten best recordings of 2012 by the New Yorker Magazine. As of October 2016 Louis Lortie became the new Master in Residence of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Belgium. Mr. Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert, in Vienna with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Leon Fleisher. He was named Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992, and received the Order of Quebec. He has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has homes in Canada and Italy.