He is able to think about music and also formulate his thoughts in a convincing way. However, to do so Paul Lewis doesn’t need a single word – all he needs is a piano – which he commands without any ostentatious gestures. As a great yet humble artist, characterized by the utmost devotion to the score, he will invite the recital audience to take a grand trip to Vienna. It starts in the 18th century and soars through time to the present day. One of Mozart’s most popular sonatas chimes out the introduction, presenting a most affectionate image of this classical composer, who was reputed to be a rambunctious child. The Czech premiere of Thomas Larcher’s Piano Sonata embodies the distinctive voice of contemporary Vienna, reminding us that the tremendous musical life of the Austrian capital did not end in the 19th century. The lullaby “Baloo, my babe” brings us back to timeless treasures. Two more intermezzi follow. In them, the Romanticist Brahms shows the gentlest side of his soul. Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 provides the universal culmination with its vigorous opening and slowly unfolding arietta, whose brisk middle section repeatedly gives the impression that this Viennese classicist and revolutionary also invented jazz.

"Lewis is a wonderfully unfussy and straightforwardly lucid interpreter of these great works, judicious with his rubato, and never imposing unnecessary mannerisms on the music; whether structurally or texturally everything is consistently uncluttered."

The Guardian

Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was awarded a CBE for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with which he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

With a natural affinity for Beethoven, Lewis took part in the BBC’s three-part documentary Being Beethoven and performed a concerto cycle at Tanglewood in summer 2022. He has performed the cycle all over the world, and was the first pianist to play the complete cycle in a single season at the BBC Proms in 2010.

Beyond many award-winning Beethoven recordings, his discography with Harmonia Mundi also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in the Romantic repertoire such as Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt.

Between 2022 and 2024, Lewis embarked on a Schubert Piano Sonata Series, presenting the completed sonatas from the last 12 years of Schubert’s life at venues around the world. The cycle continues into 2025, when he will also perform the premiere of a new piano sonata by Thomas Larcher.

In chamber music, he works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world – they have recorded three Schubert song cycles together – and he is co-artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Awards

Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year; two Edison awards; three Gramophone awards; Diapason d’Or de l’Annee; South Bank Show Classical Music Award; honorary degrees from Liverpool, Edge Hill and Southampton universities; appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours

Recital venues

Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Konzerthaus, Théâtre des Champs- Élysées, Concertgebouw, Berliner Philharmonie and Berlin Konzerthaus

Festivals: Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lucerne

source: Maestro Arts

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.