The New York Times calls Leif Ove Andsnes “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight“ and the Wall Street Journal names him “one of the most gifted musicians of his generation”. With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won acclaim worldwide, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras, while building an esteemed and extensive discography. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, was co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival in 2012.

This season, Andsnes performs Dvořák’s unjustly neglected piano cycle Poetic Tone Pictures, both on a new Sony Classical release and on high-profile recital tours of Europe and North America, with dates at such key venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. In concert, he plays Debussy’s Fantaisie with the Cleveland Orchestra; showcases his interpretation of Greig’s concerto with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, NDR Elbphilharmonie and London Philharmonic Orchestras; and performs Rachmaninov’s Third with ensembles including the Oslo Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Among other 2022-23 highlights, Andsnes gives lieder recitals with baritone Matthias Goerne, with whom he recently received his eleventh Grammy nomination.

Andsnes also continues his partnership with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) on Mozart Momentum 1785/86. A major multi-season project exploring one of the most creative and seminal periods of the composer’s career, this sees the pianist lead the ensemble from the keyboard in accounts of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 20–24 at London’s BBC Proms and other key European venues, as well as recording them for Sony Classical. The project’s first album, MM/1785, was named “Record of the Week” by BBC Radio 3 and “Recording of the Month” by Gramophone magazine, which pronounced the second volume, MM/1786, “some of the finest Mozart-playing on the planet.” Mozart Momentum 1785/86 marks Andsnes’s second artistic partnership with the MCO, following the success of The Beethoven Journey. An epic four-season focus on the composer’s music for piano and orchestra, this took the pianist to 108 cities in 27 countries for more than 230 live performances, and is perhaps his most ambitious achievement to date.

Leif Ove Andsnes records exclusively for Sony Classical. His previous discography comprises more than 30 discs for EMI Classics – solo, chamber, and concerto releases, many of them bestsellers – spanning repertoire from the time of Bach to the present day. He has been nominated for eleven Grammys and awarded many international prizes, including six Gramophone Awards. Recent releases encompass the Billboard best-selling Sibelius as well as Chopin: Ballades & Nocturnes (Sony Classical), an album of Stravinsky’s music for two pianos with Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion), Schumann’s Liederkreis & Kernerlieder, with Matthias Goerne (Harmonia Mundi), Bent Sørensen’s piano concerto, La Mattina, with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Per Kristian Skalstad (Dacapo) and a disc dedicated to the music of Norwegian composer Ketil Hvoslef on which Andsnes performs the piano concerto written in 1994 with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner (Simax).

Andsnes has received Norway’s distinguished honor, Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav as well as the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize. He is also the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and the Gilmore Artist Award. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2013 and has received an honorary doctorates from New York’s Juilliard School and Norway’s Universities of Bergen and Oslo.

Born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970 Leif Ove Andsnes studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under the renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. He also received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège who, like Hlinka, has greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. He is currently an Artistic Adviser for the Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy in Bergen where he gives annual masterclasses. Andsnes lives in Bergen with his family of three children.