Jan Lisiecki

Jan Lisiecki
Background information
Birth name	Jan Miłosz Lisiecki
Born	(1995-03-23) March 23, 1995 Calgary, Canada
Genres	Classical
Occupations	Pianist
Instruments	Piano
Labels	Deutsche Grammophon

Jan Miłosz Lisiecki (born March 23, 1995) is a classical pianist.

Life and career

Jan Miłosz Lisiecki was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Polish parents. He has been studying piano since the age of five. Jan had his orchestral debut at the age of 9, and has since performed with orchestras in Canada and internationally, including the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Jan has performed with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, Antonio Pappano, and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. On January 1, 2010 Jan opened the Chopin 200th Birthday celebrations from the composers’ birthplace, Żelazowa Wola. The same month, he performed Chopin Concerto No. 1 in E minor at the MIDEM Classical Awards Gala in Cannes, France. Jan has performed for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and a hundred thousand people on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, as part of the Canada Day 2011 celebrations.

Jan has played at The Royal Albert Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Salle Pleyel, Tonhalle Zürich, Konzerthaus Vienna, and Suntory Hall. He has substituted for Martha Argerich,^[1][2] and Nelson Freire, and has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, James Ehnes, and Emanuel Ax. He has performed in the USA, Korea, China, Japan, Poland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Guatemala, Brazil, and throughout Canada. Jan has appeared at festivals including the Verbier Festival, Festival de la Roque d'Antheron, Merano Festival, Chopin and his Europe Festival and many others in Canada and the USA.

Recognized for his poetic and mature playing, Lisiecki was awarded many prestigious awards. Jan has won numerous major Canadian music titles. In 2009 he was awarded Grand Prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (the youngest in history).^[3] In 2008 he won the Grand Award in both the Canadian Music Competitions (June 2008) and the Canadian Music Festival (August 2008, as the youngest in history). Jan was a prize winner in seven international competitions in the USA, Italy, England, and Japan.

In 2008, Jan performed the Chopin F minor Concerto and was named the sensation of the prestigious festival “Chopin and His Europe” in Poland. In 2009, he returned to Warsaw performing the Chopin E minor Concerto, receiving glowing reviews and praise from critics. The concerts were broadcast by the Polish Radio 2. Jan’s debut CD, featuring these two live performances, with Sinfonia Varsovia and Howard Shelley, was released at the beginning of 2010 by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute as catalogue No. 1 on the new “White Series”. The CD was awarded the prestigious Diapason d’Or Découverte award in May 2010. The Diapason magazine describes Lisiecki as “an unmannered virtuoso already with virile, and above all, irresistibly natural playing.” BBC Music Magazine’s July 2010 review commended "Lisiecki's mature musicality,” and his “sensitively distilled” interpretation of the contrasting concerti, played “with sparkling technique as well as idiomatic pathos”, noting that “even in a crowded CD catalogue, this refreshingly unhyped CD release is one to celebrate".

His performances have been broadcast internationally on CBC Radio in Canada, Polish Radio, Radio France, Radio Luxembourg, Austrian Radio, and German Radio, as well as on French Television 3 and the TV 1 and 2 in Poland. Jan was featured in the CBC Next! Series on March 1, 2009, on Sunday Afternoon in Concert as one of the most promising young artists in Canada. On September 7, 2009, CBC National News broadcast a Joe Schlesinger documentary about Jan, "A Reluctant Prodigy". In April, 2013, Lisiecki was named one of Canada's future leaders by Maclean's Magazine.^[4] In May 2013, he was featured by the national German television ZDF in the Heute Journal.^[5]

In June 2008 Jan was appointed a National Youth Representative by UNICEF Canada.^[6]

Upon the school board’s recommendation Jan was accelerated four grades. In January 2011, he graduated from Western Canada High School in Calgary, Canada. Since September 2011 he has been studying with Marc Durand for a Bachelor of Music at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto on a full scholarship.

In October 2010 Jan Lisiecki and Deutsche Grammophon signed an exclusive recording-agreement.^[7] Lisiecki’s debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon features Mozart’s Piano Concertos no. 20, K. 466 and no. 21, K. 467 and was released internationally on April 16, 2012.^[8] “With Deutsche Grammophon’s history of over 100 years, it is amazing to look through the catalogue and see the names of all the great artists that have some of their artistic souls with us,” said Jan Lisiecki. “To be with DG makes me feel happy, excited, and privileged – it also reinforces the idea that music is larger than any single artist – as DG encompasses the entire spectrum of this art.” Since 2010 Jan is represented by IMG Artists.

Discography

• "Chopin: Études" (2013)^{[9][10][11][12]}

  Jan Lisiecki, piano

• "Mozart: Piano Concertos K 466, No. 20, in D minor and K 467, No. 21, in C Major" (2012)^[13]

  Jan Lisiecki, piano

  Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

  Christian Zacharias, conductor

  Juno Nominee - Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) With Large Ensemble Accompaniment^[14]

• "Chopin: Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 2" (2010)^[15]

  Jan Lisiecki, piano

  Sinfonia Varsovia

  Howard Shelley, conductor

  Diapason d'Or Découverte Award, May 2010^[16]

  Gold Award, Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry^[17]

References

External links

• Jan Lisiecki's Official Website
• Jan Lisiecki Deutsche Grammophon Page
• Jan Lisiecki IMG Artists Page
• Jan Lisiecki iTunes
• Jan Lisiecki at culture.pl