Louis Lortie
Pianist Louis Lortie achieved international recognition by his mid-twenties. His strong, sensitively crafted playing has served him well in a repertory of considerable breadth, with a concentration on composers from the late Classical period to the early 20th century. Lortie was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 27, 1959. After studying with Yvonne Hubert, he made his first professional public appearance as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra when he was 13 years old. Wisely, he elected not to pursue a concert career immediately. After winning first prize in Canada's two premier competitions, the Canadian National Music Competition and the CBC National Competition, when he was 16, Lortie made what he considers his official debut with the Toronto Symphony in 1978 and joined the orchestra in a subsequent tour of Japan and the People's Republic of China. While in his early twenties, he moved to Baltimore to work with Leon Fleisher and expand his knowledge of piano literature. In 1984, Lortie won first prize in the Busoni International Competition and was also a prizewinner at the Leeds Piano Competition. Following his exposure to European culture and the recognition resulting from his successes in competition, Lortie undertook a more extensive number of concert engagements and released his first recording in 1986. Within the first few years of an active career, Lortie performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His engagements included dates with the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, and the Orchestre National de France. With the latter ensemble, he performed on tour. Lortie has performed for several summers with the Montréal Symphony in a program series devoted to a single composer. Complete cycles of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas have been given throughout the world. Few pianists have enjoyed such a long-term and mutually satisfying relationship with a recording company as that existing between Lortie and Chandos. Lortie has been allowed to preserve his interpretations of composers extending from Mozart to Ligeti. Among them is his collection of the complete piano works of Ravel, a set that has received several awards, the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, and the complete works for piano and orchestra by Liszt. His recordings of Chopin's Preludes and Etudes are also of particular interest. In 2020, Lortie released the second volume in his survey of Saint-Saëns works for piano and orchestra, with Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic. Lortie has taught at the piano institute at Imola, Italy, when his schedule has allowed, he is the co-founder and artistic director of the LacMus International Festival in Tremezzina, Italy, and he is a master in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. Lortie was honored by being made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.© Erik Eriksson /TiVo Read more
Pianist Louis Lortie achieved international recognition by his mid-twenties. His strong, sensitively crafted playing has served him well in a repertory of considerable breadth, with a concentration on composers from the late Classical period to the early 20th century.
Lortie was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 27, 1959. After studying with Yvonne Hubert, he made his first professional public appearance as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra when he was 13 years old. Wisely, he elected not to pursue a concert career immediately. After winning first prize in Canada's two premier competitions, the Canadian National Music Competition and the CBC National Competition, when he was 16, Lortie made what he considers his official debut with the Toronto Symphony in 1978 and joined the orchestra in a subsequent tour of Japan and the People's Republic of China. While in his early twenties, he moved to Baltimore to work with Leon Fleisher and expand his knowledge of piano literature.
In 1984, Lortie won first prize in the Busoni International Competition and was also a prizewinner at the Leeds Piano Competition. Following his exposure to European culture and the recognition resulting from his successes in competition, Lortie undertook a more extensive number of concert engagements and released his first recording in 1986. Within the first few years of an active career, Lortie performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His engagements included dates with the Cleveland Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, and the Orchestre National de France. With the latter ensemble, he performed on tour. Lortie has performed for several summers with the Montréal Symphony in a program series devoted to a single composer. Complete cycles of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas have been given throughout the world.
Few pianists have enjoyed such a long-term and mutually satisfying relationship with a recording company as that existing between Lortie and Chandos. Lortie has been allowed to preserve his interpretations of composers extending from Mozart to Ligeti. Among them is his collection of the complete piano works of Ravel, a set that has received several awards, the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, and the complete works for piano and orchestra by Liszt. His recordings of Chopin's Preludes and Etudes are also of particular interest. In 2020, Lortie released the second volume in his survey of Saint-Saëns works for piano and orchestra, with Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic.
Lortie has taught at the piano institute at Imola, Italy, when his schedule has allowed, he is the co-founder and artistic director of the LacMus International Festival in Tremezzina, Italy, and he is a master in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. Lortie was honored by being made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.
© Erik Eriksson /TiVo
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Debussy: Piano Duets
Classical - Released by Chandos on 9 Sep 2022
Regular duet and two-piano partners, Hélène Mercier and Louis Lortie have returned to the studio for this all-Debussy programme. The present album f ...
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Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 7
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Jul 2022
For the seventh volume of his Chopin project, the Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has built a programme that includes works from the earliest to the lat ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4
Louis Lortie, Edward Gardner, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
A Fauré Recital, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 2016
The appeal of Gabriel Fauré's music is difficult to capture in a program devoted exclusively to the composer, but pianist Louis Lortie has pulled it o ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 6
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Nov 2020
For the sixth volume of his Chopin project, the Canadian pianist and exclusive Chandos Artist Louis Lortie has built a programme that includes works f ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
"In paradisum", A Fauré Recital, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2020
The Canadian pianist Louis Lortie returns with the second volume of his overview of the solo piano works of Gabriel Fauré. The two major works ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Duets
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Nov 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 5
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: The Complete Années de Pèlerinage
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2011
French-Canadian powerhouse Louis Lortie performs Liszt's Années de pèlerinage in this tour de force of challenging music by a notoriously challenging ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvres orchestrales (Volume 5)
Louis Lortie, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba
Concertos - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2013
Choc de Classica24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Eroica Variations, Variations in F, Rondo in C, Rondo in G & Für Elise
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Works, Vol. 4
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Mar 2012
Much as he did with his first volume of the piano music of Frédéric Chopin, Louis Lortie has arranged the second volume by alternating pieces in speci ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Complete Works for Solo Piano
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Nov 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: An American In Paris; Rhapsody in Blue
Louis Lortie, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Charles Dutoit
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 May 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Witold Lutoslawski (Volume 2) : Œuvres orchestrales
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2012
Hi-Res Audio5 de DiapasonThe second volume of Witold Lutoslawski's orchestral works on Chandos presents two sets of orchestral variations, a piano concerto and a symphony, com ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Works for Piano and Orchestra
Louis Lortie, George Pehlivanian, Residentie Orchestra The Hague
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 May 2006
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Lortie plays Chopin - Vol. 1: Nocturnes, Scherzos, Piano Sonata No. 2
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 May 2010
Hi-Res Audio4 étoiles Classica5 de DiapasonThis first volume of Chandos' series of the piano music of Frédéric Chopin offers an interesting arrangement of works, pairing selected Nocturnes with ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Œuvre pour piano seul (Intégrale)
Concertos - Released by Chandos on 29 Nov 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Louis Lortie Plays Chopin, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Apr 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo