Marc-André Hamelin

Marc-André Hamelin was born in 1961 in Montreal, Canada, where he studied at the École de Musique Vincent d’Indy before completing his education at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1985 he won first prize at the Carnegie Hall International Competition for American Music; Harold C. Schonberg of the New York Times subsequently dubbed him a “super-virtuoso.” Hamelin’s concert performances have taken him around the globe ever since, to such distinguished international orchestras as the New York Philharmonic; the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies; the Philharmonia Orchestra in London; the Berlin Philharmonic; and the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich. In the 2014-15 season, Hamelin is concertizing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic in London, and the Orchestre National de France; he is also undertaking a major North American tour with the ensemble Les Violons du Roy. Hamelin not only performs the great masterpieces of the piano repertoire, from Haydn to Rachmaninoff, but is also deeply devoted to rarities, including the music of such composers as Charles-Valentin Alkan, Leopold Godowsky, Charles Ives, Stefan Wolpe, and Nikolai Medtner. As a composer he has produced such works as a cycle of twelve Etudes and the Paganini Variations. His discography encompasses more than 80 recordings and has won such accolades as nine Grammy nominations, the Gramophone Award, and the ECHO Klassik Award. His recordings have appeared ten times on the best-of lists of the German Record Critics’ Award, and in 2006 their board bestowed on him with its lifetime achievement award. Marc-André Hamelin is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 27 November 2011, in a recital of works by Haydn, Schumann, Wolpe, Fauré, and Liszt.

October 2014