Concert du Krystian Zimerman Quartet

The Fondation Louis Vuitton is very proud to welcome Krystian Zimerman, a living piano legend. Not only is he one of the greatest pianists of our time, he is also a sensitive, subtle artist on a constant quest to perfect his art and whose appearances, both in concert and on recordings, are sought-after and rare. This evening, joined by three other exceptional musicians, Mr Zimerman, who specialises in 19th-century music, presents a duo of piano quartets by Johannes Brahms: two works of which he is unquestionably the master, by a composer of whom he is known to be one of the finest performers.

The programme

Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26

Les artistes

Music for Krystian Zimerman is the art of organising emotions in time. The Polish pianist’s interpretations of everything from Beethoven and Chopin to Schubert and Szymanowski reveal infinite expressive subtleties and the underlying clarity of his story-telling through music. Zimerman’s place among today’s greatest artists rests not least on the freshness and originality of his performances, always intensely personal and prepared in meticulous detail. He may study a work for decades, exploring every facet and contemplating its meaning before introducing it to his recital repertoire or taking it into the studio. His approach belongs to a dynamic process of creative evolution, one in which self-criticism, deep reflection and intuition play significant parts. “The final thing – that which art is made of – happens in the concert hall,” he notes.

Zimerman’s first recording for Deutsche Grammophon, a Chopin recital, was released in 1977. His discography as an exclusive yellow label artist includes many landmark recordings, among them the piano concertos of Beethoven and Brahms with the Wiener Philharmoniker and Bernstein; the Grieg and Schumann concertos with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Karajan; Debussy’s Préludes; and Chopin’s two piano concertos with the Polish Festival Orchestra, a hand-picked ensemble of outstanding young Polish musicians created by Zimerman to mark the 150th anniversary of Chopin’s death in 1999.

He has made two recordings of Witold Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto, a work written for and dedicated to him. The first, issued by DG in 1992, was conducted by the composer. It was followed in 2015 by the release of a live recording made with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Rattle. Other recording highlights include an album of chamber works by Grażyna Bacewicz (2011), Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.1 with Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker (2006), and Bartók’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Boulez (2005).

Zimerman’s first solo album for over twenty-five years, a recording of Schubert’s late Piano Sonatas D959 and D960, was issued by Deutsche Grammophon in September 2017. He followed this with a centenary tribute to his friend Leonard Bernstein: a live recording of the composer’s Symphony No.2 “The Age of Anxiety”, recorded with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle and released in August 2018.

In December 2020 the pianist reunited with Rattle in challenging circumstances to record the complete Beethoven piano concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the Beethoven 250 celebrations. Their live performances from LSO St Luke’s were streamed on DG Stage and received widespread acclaim, with The Observer hailing Zimerman’s “peerless, witty playing”. Concerto No.1 was issued for download and streaming on the anniversary of Beethoven’s baptism, 17 December 2020. The full album will be released on 9 July 2021, on CD and vinyl as well as digitally. A deluxe edition (3 CDs and 1 Blu-ray), with exclusive video footage of all five concertos and a special Dolby Atmos® mix of the complete audio and video recordings, will be issued on 5 November 2021.

The Beethoven concertos remained Zimerman’s focus throughout 2020–21. He opened the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester’s 240th season in September with performances of No.3 under Andris Nelsons, going on to play full cycles with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and Gustavo Gimeno, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Kazuki Yamada, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – again with Gimeno. His performances with Rattle and the LSO in London will be shown again on DG Stage to coincide with the release of his new album (9–11 July).

Krystian Zimerman was born into a musical family in Zabrze in southern Poland in 1956. He was introduced to chamber music-making as an infant by the many musicians who visited his home, received his first piano lessons at the age of five from his pianist father and subsequently studied privately and at the Katowice Conservatory with Andrzej Jasiński. Zimerman made his breakthrough in 1975 when he won First Prize at the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw. Although the 18-year-old emerged as the prestigious competition’s youngest ever winner, he recognised that he needed time to develop his artistry. In 1976 he was invited by the legendary Artur Rubinstein to work with him in Paris. Fresh artistic and psychological insights arose from his consequent period of close study with one of the 20th century’s greatest pianists, as well as from time spent with Claudio Arrau, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, among others.

Since then, Zimerman has collaborated with many of the world’s leading musicians. He has performed chamber music in partnership with, among others, Gidon Kremer, Kyung-Wha Chung and Yehudi Menuhin, and worked with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, André Previn, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle and Stanisław Skrowaczewski.

Krystian Zimerman’s artistry, unlike that of most other pianists, is inextricably linked to his knowledge of the mechanics and structure of his instrument. He developed practical skills as piano builder and keyboard technician during his formative years and has refined them since in close cooperation with Steinway & Sons in Hamburg.

Maria Nowak began playing the violin at the age of seven. She graduated with honours from the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, studying under W. Malínski (1997) and from the Universität der Künste Berlin, working with Koji Toyoda.

She began receiving major prizes and awards at a very early age, winning national and international violin competitions, such as the 11th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań and the Eurovision Song Contest, at which she represented Poland in 2006. She honed her skills in classes with M. Schwalbé and A.-S. Mutter, received Polish scholarships and was awarded a prize by the German Ministry of Culture. She began receiving major prizes and awards at a very early age, winning national and international violin competitions, such as the 11th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań and the Eurovision Song Contest, at which she represented Poland in 2006. She honed her skills in classes with M. Schwalbé and A.-S. Mutter, received Polish scholarships and was awarded a prize by the German Ministry of Culture.

Katarzyna Budnik graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, having been in the violin class of Professors Mirosław Ławrynowicz, Andrzej Gębski and Janusz Wawrowski, and the viola class of Professor Piotr Reichert. She is now employed at that same school as an assistant lecturer. Since 2014, she has been first viola with the Sinfonia Varsovia. In 2013, she won third prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, one of the most prestigious classical music competitions.

She has also made her mark at numerous other competitions, such as the 47th Beethoven's Hradec International Music Competition (Czech Republic, 2008, first prize), the 15th International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach (Austria, 2008, first prize), the 8th National Jan Rakowski Viola Competition (Poznań, 2008, first prize), the International Max Rostal Competition in Berlin (Germany, 2009, second prize), the International Max Reger Chamber Music Competition in Sondershausen (Germany , 2009, second prize and Best Performance of a Suite for Viola by Max Reger) and the 4th Michał SpisakInternational Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland, 2010, second prize and Best Performance of a Compulsory Work). She performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Poland and across Europe. In 2010, she took part in the international Chamber Music Connects the World event hosted by the Kronberg Academy, where she worked with Gidon Kremer, Tatjana Grindenko, Yuri Bashmet and Frans Helmerson. She performs at many prestigious festivals, such as the Lancut Music Festival, the International Chamber Music Festival “Music on the Heights” in Zakopane and the Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus (invited by Gidon Kremer). She received a scholarship from Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as well as from the Young Poland programme.

Yuya Okamoto was born in Tokyo in 1994 and received his first cello lesson at the age of six. From 2010 to 2013, he studied at the Music High School, a branch of the Faculty of Music at the Tokyo University of the Arts, studying under Professor Nobuko Yamazaki. From 2013 to 2019, he studied with Professors Wen-Sinn Yang and Julian Steckel at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich. He then studied chamber music with Professors Ana Chumachenko and Hariolf Schlichtig at the same university. He has also taken part in masterclasses with Wolfgang Boettcher, Miklos Perenyi, Gustav Rivinius, Natalia Gutman, Jens Peter Maintz, Antonio Meneses, Peter Bruns and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi.

In 2011, he won first prize and four special prizes (including the Audience Prize) at the 80th Japan Music Competition. He was awarded Honourable Mention at the 10th Witold Lutoslawski International Cello Competition in Warsaw in 2015. In 2017, he won second prize (the Eugène Ysaÿe Prize) at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium. As a soloist, he has worked with such ensembles as the Brussels Philharmonic, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He has performed chamber music with Vadim Repin, Arabella Steinbacher, Svetlin Roussev, Philippe Graffin, Nobuko Imai, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Alexander Kniazev, Michie Koyama and Robert Kulek. In the fall of 2019, he began touring with Krystian Zimerman (piano quartet) in Italy and Japan. Since 2013, he has held a scholarship from the Ezoe Memorial Recruit Foundation.