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. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. His concerto repertoire alone is unusually wide and eclectic – ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century – and to date he has at his command more than 80 concertos.
Garrick Ohlsson opened the 2010-2011 season in Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra followed by return visits to the Orchestras of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Milwaukee, Toronto, and San Diego. In Europe, he visited orchestras in Sweden, Denmark, Spain and England. The bicentenary of Chopin’s birth in 2010 saw the release of The Art of Chopin, a documentary based on the composer’s life and music and featuring Garrick Ohlsson, co-produced by Polish, French, British and Chinese television stations.
In acknowledgement of the bicentenary of Liszt’s birth the 2011/12 season will include recitals of his works in cities including Chicago, Hong Kong, London, and New York, where he will also visit Carnegie Hall with the Atlanta Symphony and the Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. Tours in Europe and Asia include concerts in France, England, Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Garrick Ohlsson is an avid chamber musician, who has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Takács and Tokyo string quartets, among other ensembles.
A prolific recording artist, Garrick Ohlsson’s 16-disc set of the complete works of Chopin was re-released in 2008 on the Hyperion label. He recently recorded all the Brahms piano variations and released a two-disc set of Carl Maria von Weber’s four piano sonatas, also for Hyperion. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Bridge Records is now complete and has garnered considerable critical praise, including a Grammy for Vol. 3. In February 2011 he released a disc of works by Franz Liszt.
He performed at the Stresa Festival in 1968 and 1990.