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Steven OSBORNE |
“You could have heard a pin drop. Steven Osborne’s
power over the hall was absolute…the atmosphere was spellbound.
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Steven Osborne has emerged at the forefront of young British pianists. He embraces a wide range of style and repertoire from the mainstream works of Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms to the rarefied worlds of Messiaen, Tippett and Alkan. His recital programmes are carefully crafted and he is idiomatic in his approach to contrasting works. As Time Out recently noted “He can produce pyrotechnics effortlessly, but never forgets the depths beneath the brilliance”.
In the UK he works regularly with the major orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, and the Hallé. His concerts are regularly broadcast by the BBC and he performs every year at the Wigmore Hall and at the Edinburgh Festival. He has made five appearances at the Proms, most recently in 2005 when he performed the Tippett Piano Concerto.
Concerto performances take Steven to orchestras all over the world including recent performances with the NHK Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Salzberg Mozarteum, Residentie Orkest, Australian Chamber Orchestra and the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hannover. With these orchestras he has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Christoph von Dohnanyi, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Evgeny Svetlanov, Sir Charles Mackerras, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Andrew Litton, Alan Gilbert, Vassily Sinaisky and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
Steven has given recitals in many of the world’s prestigious venues including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, Musikhalle Hamburg, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington and in December 2005 he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Widely recognised as a leading interpreter of Messiaen, Steven performs Turangalila in February 2007 at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels with the Orchestre National de Belgique and chief conductor Mikko Franck. Elsewhere this season he performs with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony (Brahms), Malmo Symphony (Mozart), Stavanger Symphony (Mozart), Malaysian Philharmonic (Mendelssohn) and at home with the BBC Philharmonic (Grieg), Bournemouth Symphony (Mozart) and Royal Scottish National Orchestras. In London he will give a series of four Schubert recitals combining the late piano sonatas with songs from Schwanengesang.
Steven records regularly with Hyperion. His CD of Messiaen’s complete Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus was met with staggering praise and was nominated for both a Gramophone Award and a Schallplattenpreis in Germany: “one of the most successful and spectacular piano discs of recent years” (Daily Telegraph, 14 September 2002). 2003 saw the release of two further CDs: solo works by Alkan and Liszt Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, both of which were selected as “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone and spring 2006 saw the release of Shostakovich and Schnittke Cello Sonatas with Alban Gerhardt. Most recently he released Debussy’s complete Preludes (July 2006) which again was selected as “Editor’s Choice” in Gramophone. Other recordings include Piano Concertos by Tovey and Mackenzie, solo works by the contemporary Russian composer Kapustin which was also nominated for a Schallplattenpreis, and a CD of solo works by Ravel for Musical Heritage in America. Future recording plans include solo, chamber and orchestral works by Tippett, Britten and Prokofiev.
Steven was born in Scotland in 1971 and studied with Richard Beauchamp at St. Mary's Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He won first prize at both the 1997 Naumburg International Piano Competition (New York) and the 1991 Clara Haskil Competition.
For further information please also visit www.stevenosborne.com – 2006/07