Leif Ove Andsnes

With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist Lief Ove Andsnes has won acclaim worldwide, performing concertos and recitals in leading concert halls and with foremost orchestras while building an esteemed and extensive discography. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal (Norway) Chamber Music Festival, was co-artistic director of the Risør (Norway) Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades and served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival in 2012. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in July 2013 and received honorary doctorates from New York’s Juilliard School and Norway’s University of Bergen in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Perhaps the artist’s most ambitious achievement to date is The Beethoven Journey, his epic four-season focus on the master composer’s music for piano and orchestra, which took him to 108 cities in 27 countries for more than 230 live performances. He led the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard in complete Beethoven concerto cycles at high-profile residencies in Bonn, Hamburg, Lucerne, Vienna, Paris, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bodø (Norway), and London, besides collaborating with such leading ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Munich Philharmonic. The project was chronicled in the documentary Concerto—A Beethoven Journey (2016) and Mr. Andsnes’ partnership with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra was captured on the hit Sony Classical three-volume series The Beethoven Journey. The first volume was named “Best Instrumental Album of 2012” on iTunes and awarded Belgium’s Prix Caecilia; the second was recognized with BBC Music magazine’s coveted 2015 “Recording of the Year” award; and the complete series was chosen as one of the “Best of 2014” by The New York Times.

Mr. Andsnes has received Norway’s distinguished honor, Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and, in 2007, he received the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize, awarded by members of Parliament to honor prominent Norwegians for the achievements in politics, sports, and culture. In 2004-05 he became the youngest musician (and first Scandinavian) to curate Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives” series and in 2015-16 he was the subject of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Portrait Series. He is the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Best Instrumentalist (1999) and the Gilmore Artist Award (1998), and, saluting his many achievements, Vanity Fair named Mr. Andsnes one of the “Best of the Best” in 2005.

Mr. Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970 and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory with the renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. He also received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège who, like Hlinka, greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. Mr. Andsnes currently is an artistic adviser for the Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy in Bergen, where he gives an annual master class to participating students. Mr. Andsnes lives in Bergen with this partner and their three children.