Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess.
Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him.
Read Full Bio
There’s much to savor in Rachmaninov’s stirring Symphonic Dances: an alto saxophone and pulsating percussion in the first; a dark, eerie waltz in the second; and Russian Orthodox chants, tubular bells and the composer’s go-to Dies irae in the last. On March 6, 7 and 8, Garrick Ohlsson’s virtuosity will be on full display joining the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in Barber’s breathtaking…
In the second half of February, Garrick Ohlsson collaborates with Musica Viva, the largest presenter of chamber music in the world, playing recitals all over Australia. Program One, which Mr. Ohlsson presents in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne Weekday, Perth, and Sydney, opens with the engaging work Beethoven regarded as the best of his own early sonatas, followed by Prokofiev’s gripping first…
Hazard Chase Garrick Ohlsson has won the International Ambassador of Czech Music award at the 2019 Prague Classic Awards. It is the only award exclusively intended for laureates of non-Czech origin who have displayed continued support of Czech classical music abroad. Ohlsson will appear at the ceremony to receive his award this evening at Prague’s Municipal House. The event will be broadcast…
Garrick Ohlsson returned to The Conrad in downtown La Jolla Saturday, November 9, to play another all-Brahms piano recital. With his evident affection for the repertory, his superlative technique, and his insight into what makes Brahms’ piano music distinctive, his recital also turned into a graduate level master class for anyone who plays piano or has ever studied the instrument.
“From Brahms’ early Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5, and the Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35, Book II, to the mature Op. 79 Rhapsodies and the Op. 116 Fantasies, Ohlsson’s every phrase illuminated important aspects of this rich body of piano music, amplifying the sheer joy of experiencing Brahms played with such command and panache.” San Diego Story
Ohlsson used his pianistic soft power — a commanding technical arsenal deployed with judicious restraint — in the service of Beethoven’s penchant for insistence, pushing the first movement’s boil of trills and passagework to the foreground, making the slow movement’s pleas hushed and voluble by turn.
“Ohlsson used his pianistic soft power — a commanding technical arsenal deployed with judicious restraint — in the service of Beethoven’s penchant for insistence, pushing the first movement’s boil of trills and passagework to the foreground, making the slow movement’s pleas hushed and voluble by turn. By the rambunctious finale, ensemble and soloist were on the same quirky page,…
