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Festival Biographies
Marc-André Hamelin
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin's unique blend of musicianship and virtuosity brings forth interpretations remarkable for their freedom, originality and prodigious mastery of the piano's resources. A musician of broad musical interests and curiosity, Mr. Hamelin is renowned in equal measure for his fresh readings of the established repertoire and for his exploration of lesser known works of the 19th and 20th century, both in the recording studio and in the concert hall.
In the 2012-13 season, Mr. Hamelin performs Haydn piano concertos with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie in a performance that will be recorded for release on Hyperion. He also performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and David Zinman, with the Atlanta Symphony and Hugh Wolff and with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Ainars Rubikis. He joins the National Philharmonic of Russia for concertos by Rubinstein and Medtner and appears with the San Francisco Symphony with David Robertson in Ravel's Left Hand Piano Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, as well as with the Columbus Symphony and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Hamelin tours the Shostakovich Piano Quintet with the Takács String Quartet throughout the U.S., and appears in solo recitals for the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Chamber Music Society, Music Toronto, Vancouver Recital Society, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Portland Ovations (Maine) and Portland Piano (Oregon), Wigmore Hall, Berlin Piano Festival, as well as in Libson, Munich, Stuttgart, Moscow and Antwerp.
Recording exclusively for Hyperion Records,
Mr. Hamelin's recent releases include a third installment of Haydn sonatas, Reger and Strauss concertos with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, a solo disc of works by Liszt that was selected by Bryce Morrison for Gramophone's 2011 Critic's Choice feature and an album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Ètudes, that received a 2010 Grammy nomination (his ninth) and a first prize from the German Record Critics Association.
A resident of Boston, Mr. Hamelin is the recipient of a lifetime achievement prize by the German Record Critics Association and is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l'Ordre du Québec and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.