Marc-André Hamelin, piano (Honolulu Chamber Music Series)

Note: Mr. Hamelin will appear instead of Garrick Ohlsson, who was originally scheduled to perform but could not travel to Hawai’i due to illness. Those who purchased individual tickets and wish to request a refund should call 956-8246.

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin is ranked among the elect of world pianists for his unrivaled blend of musicianship and virtuosity in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries – in concert and on disc.

Marc-André Hamelin is a frequent recitalist for Chicago Symphony Presents, the Cliburn, Spivey Hall, Montreal Pro Musica, Music Toronto, WPA in Washington, the Boston Celebrity Series and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Princeton University, San Francisco Performances, and in all the major concert halls in New York. Recitals in Europe include regular appearances at the Wigmore Hall in London, Munich, DeSingel in Antwerp, the Concertgebuow in Amsterdam, Moscow State Philharmonic Society, Perugia, the Heidelberg Festival and the Salzburg Mozarteum, as well as a recent three-concert residency at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

He has appeared repeatedly with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, New York, Boston, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. At the last of these, he played the American premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Piano Concerto (written for him) with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nezet-Seguin. In his 2014 debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in Haydn’s D Major Piano Concerto his playing was praised as “the very paragon of Classical purity, a fount of crisp, sparkling passages” (Cleveland Plain-Dealer, May 1, 2015).

In recognition of his remarkable discography, Mr. Hamelin was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in June 2015. Also awarded the 2006 lifetime achievement prize by the German Record Critic’s Award (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik), Mr. Hamelin has recorded some 70 CDs for the Hyperion label, most recently a double disc of Mozart Sonatas and two recordings with the Takács Quartet featuring the piano quintets by Shostakovich and Leo Ornstein. Further highlights of Mr. Hamelin’s recent discography include a CD devoted to Schumann’s Kinderszenen and Waldszenen and Janáček’s On the Overgrown Path, which was listed as CD of the Month in both Gramophone and BBC Music magazines. His recording of Busoni’s Late Piano Works received the 2014 Echo Award of “Instrumentalist of the Year (Piano)” and “Disc of the Year” by two leading French journals, Diapason and Classica. Mr. Hamelin’s discography ranges from the neglected masterpieces of Alkan, Ives, Medtner and Roslavets to brilliantly received performances of Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, and Debussy. A series of recordings of Haydn sonatas and concertos was particularly well-received, putting Mr. Hamelin on “the shortlist of most revelatory Haydn interpreters on record” (BBC Music Magazine, June 2015).

In 2010 Mr. Hamelin joined the ranks on CD of noted composer-pianists by releasing his own highly inventive “12 Etudes in all the minor keys” on the Hyperion label and with publication by Edition Peters. Mr. Hamelin has since performed his own compositions around the world, to great critical acclaim. His Pavane variée was commissioned for the ARD Music Competition in Munich, where it was the obligatory piece for the 2014 piano competition.

Purchase tickets online: $60 General Admission, $20 Students

• 6:30 p.m. – pre-concert talk
• 7:30 p.m. – recital