Guest Master Class - Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Swiss-born pianist Gilles Vonsattel, winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's 2002 International Piano Competition, made his Lincoln Center debut that year at Alice Tully Hall. He later won top prize at the 2006 Geneva International Music Competition, and, in 2008, received an Avery Fisher career grant. With repertoire that ranges from Bach's Art of the Fugue to Xenakis, Mr. Vonsattel is an artist of uncommon breadth equally at home in solo and chamber music. He has performed in major venues such as Boston's Symphony Hall, Cleveland's Severance Hall, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, the Benedict Music Tent at the Aspen Music Festival, Tokyo's Opera City Hall,
Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, and Geneva's Victoria Hall.
Mr. Vonsattel has shown a significant interest in expanding the conventional classical concert experience, regularly participating in New York's Wordless Music Series. He was featured in the spring 2008 issue of Esquire magazine as one of several ground-breaking classical musicians. He continues to be deeply involved in classical music outreach in the United States, giving masterclasses at universities and schools. Mr. Vonsattel's recording of Liszt solo works and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with
L'Orchestre de Chambre de Genève was released in October
of 2007 on the PanClassics label to critical acclaim. His recording of Bartók's Contrasts (Deutsche Gramophon) with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is available for download on iTunes.
After studying with pianist David Deveau in Boston, Mr. Vonsattel received his B.A. in political science and economics from Columbia University and his M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Jerome Lowenthal.
This event is free and open to the public.