Lars Vogt

Piano

Lars Vogt has rapidly established himself as one of the leading pianists of his generation. Born in the German town of Düren in 1970, he first came to public attention when he won second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition, and has since gone on to give major concerto and recital performances throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

An EMI recording artist, Lars Vogt has made fifteen discs for the label. These include the Schumann and Grieg concertos and the first two Beethoven Concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, who has described him as"one of the most extraordinary musicians of any age group that I have had the fortune to be associated with". Vogt has also made solo recordings of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. His most recent concerto release is Hindemith's Kammermusik No 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado.

For the 2003/4 season Lars Vogt was appointed the first ever"Pianist in Residence"for the Berlin Philharmonic, devising four chamber programmes with members of the orchestra and performing Beethoven 1 with Sir Simon Rattle in Salzburg and Berlin. Other major orchestras over the past three seasons have included the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, NHK Symphony, London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre de Paris, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Vienna Philharmonic, Bayerische Staatsorchester and Santa Cecilia in Rome. In Spring 2008 he joined the Dresden Staatskapelle and Myung-Whun Chung on their European tour of eleven major cities featuring Dresden, Vienna, Budapest, Paris and Brussels.

In Summer 2008 Lars Vogt performs Brahms at the BBC Proms and Mozart at the Salzburg Festival. During the 2008/9 season he appears with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Zurich Tonhalle, Danish National Radio and RAI Turin Orchestras and gives recitals in London, Paris, Madrid and Istanbul. A tour with the Ensemble Wien Berlin to celebrate their 25th anniversary takes him to London, Berlin, Brussels, Vienna and Lucerne.

Lars Vogt also enjoys a high profile as a recitalist and chamber musician and forthcoming appearances include London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Rome, Istanbul and New York. In June 1998 he founded his own festival in Heimbach, Germany. Known as "Spannungen" its huge success has been marked by the release of ten live recordings on EMI. He enjoys regular partnerships with colleagues such as Christian Tetzlaff and collaborates with actor Klaus-Maria Brandauer and comedian Konrad Beikircher.

Season 2008/2009  This biography is available courtesy of general management: Askonas Holt, London

For further information please visit: www.larsvogt.com

Lars Vogt playing an encore in Berlin (YouTube) after a performance of Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Full concert performance available at http://dch.berliner-philharmoniker.de/