Birth name Paul Lewis Website Official website Genres Classical Name Paul Lewis | Occupation(s) Classical Pianist Spouse Bjorg Lewis Instruments Piano | |
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Role Classical pianist · paullewispiano.co.uk Albums Winterreise (feat. tenor: Mark Pad, piano: Paul Lewis) Nominations Classic Brit Award for Young British Classical Performer or Group, Classic Brit Critics Award Similar People | ||
Pianist paul lewis on beethoven and self belief
Paul Lewis CBE (born 20 May 1972) is an English classical pianist.
Contents
- Pianist paul lewis on beethoven and self belief
- Paul lewis in conversation with melanie spanswick
- Early life
- Career
- Reviews
- Discography
- References
Paul lewis in conversation with melanie spanswick
Early life
Lewis's father worked at the Liverpool docks and his mother was a local council worker; there were no musicians in his family background. Lewis began by playing the cello, the only instrument for which his school could offer him tuition. At the age of 14 he was accepted by Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where his piano studies blossomed. His teachers included Ryszard Bakst (at Chetham's), Joan Havill (at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) and Alfred Brendel, whom Lewis acknowledges as a mentor. His first international achievement was the second prize at the 1994 World Piano Competition in London. He also won the Dudley and Royal Overseas League Piano Competitions.
Career
Lewis is strongly affiliated with the Wigmore Hall, London.
Lewis performed all 32 of the Beethoven piano sonatas, on tour in the United States and Europe, between the 2005 and 2007 seasons, in parallel with his complete recording of the cycle for Harmonia Mundi. Each of these CD releases has been included in Gramophone magazine's "Editor's Choice", and in August 2008, volume 4 of the series was awarded Gramophone's "Best Instrumental" recording and "Best Recording of the Year".[1] In July and August 2010 Lewis became the first pianist to perform all five Beethoven Concertos in a single season of The BBC Proms.
In 2015, he succeeded Fanny Waterman as artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition, jointly with conductor Adam Gatehouse. He will also chair the competition's jury.
Lewis was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music.
Reviews
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Geoffrey Norris said, "There is in Lewis's playing a strong physicality, a firm connection between his deep thinking about the music and his articulation of it. He knows and can define its character, and can show how its rhythmic, harmonic and melodic components coalesce. This was playing of intellectual rigour and imaginative vigour."
Discography
