 |
|
Biography |
by Robert Cummings
|
Lars Vogt has enjoyed a meteoric rise since capturing second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. He has managed to straddle two worlds in the process, that of soloist/recitalist and that of chamber player. He has regularly appeared with front-rank orchestras across the globe and on the recital stages at major venues while founding a chamber music festival and making nearly 20 recordings devoted to chamber works. And Vogt's taste in repertory is unusually broad, taking in not only the German sphere -- Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Hindemith, Berg, and Lachenmann -- but a veritable potpourri as well -- Grieg, Dvorák, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Debussy, Ravel, Elgar, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and contemporary composer Tatyana Komarova (Vogt's wife). Vogt possesses a powerful technique and a chameleonic interpretive persona that together allow him to capture the subtleties and negotiate the challenges presented by this vast array of composers. Vogt has recorded for EMI, Virgin Classics, LSO Live, and Cavi-Music.
Lars Vogt was born in the German town of Düren on September 8, 1970. He studied piano in Achen with Ruth Weiss and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. After his victory at the 1990 Leeds Competition, Vogt launched his international career, touring throughout Europe and eventually the Americas and Asia. His first recording was the acclaimed 1992 EMI CD of works by Haydn, Schubert, Brahms, and Lachenmann. A Haydn piano sonata disc followed in 1994, as well as several others later in the decade. But in the new century Vogt has made a spate of successful recordings, many in the chamber genre.
The impetus for much of his chamber activity dates to his 1998 founding of the Spannungen Festival, which he has served as music director. He has recorded numerous discs with musicians appearing at the event, held every June in Heimbach. He has collaborated with violinist Christian Tetzlaff in the Brahms sonatas, with clarinetist Sabine Meyer in Brahms and Berg works, and with cellist Boris Pergamenschikov in Brahms and Schumann fare.
Vogt has enjoyed a close relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor, Simon Rattle. For the 2003-2004 season Vogt became the first ever to serve as pianist-in-residence. In that capacity he appeared in five concerts. Among Vogt's newer recordings is the 2007 EMI CD of Beethoven's First and Second piano concertos with Simon Rattle and the CBSO. |
| |
|
