“Some pianists gild everything they touch with their own personality; some are like chameleons, finding a new colour for each composer. Last night the wonderful Scottish pianist Steven Osborne did both, which lent the whole evening a miraculous air…every note seemed to vibrate with intelligence”

The Daily Telegraph, 8 Feb 2016

 

Steven Osborne is one of Britain’s most treasured musicians whose insightful and idiomatic interpretations of diverse repertoire show an immense musical depth. His numerous awards include The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year (2013) and two Gramophone Awards. His residences at London’s Wigmore Hall, Antwerp’s deSingel, the Bath International Music Festival and most recently with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are a testament to the breadth of his interests and the respect he commands.

Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to major orchestras all over the world including recent visits to the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Salzburg Mozarteum, Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Danish National Radio, London Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, St Louis Symphony, Aspen Music Festival and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. He has enjoyed collaborations with conductors including Christoph von Dohnanyi, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stéphane Denève, Ludovic Morlot, Juanjo Mena, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Litton, Ingo Metzmacher, Vladimir Jurowski, Jun Märkl, Ed Gardner and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

Summer 2017 saw Steven Osborne give the world premiere of Julian Anderson’s Piano Concerto “The Imaginary Museum” in his fourteenth performance at the Proms. A long-time admirer of Osborne’s playing, Anderson wrote the piece for and dedicated it to him, and 17/18 sees further performances with the co-commissioners Bergen Philharmonic/Ed Gardner and Sydney Symphony/Ludovic Morlot. Reflecting his eclectic musical taste, the current season includes concertos ranging from Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart to Britten, Falla, Messiaen, Shostakovich and Tippett. 

Steven Osborne’s recitals of carefully crafted programmes are publicly and critically acclaimed without exception. He has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Berlin, de Doelen Rotterdam, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington, Carnegie Hall and is a regular guest at London’s Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners include Alban Gerhardt, Paul Lewis, James Ehnes, Dietrich Henschel and Alina Ibragimova. 

Highlights of 17/18 season include performances with the Bergen Philharmonic/Gardner, Danish National Symphony/Mena, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien/ Cornelius Meister, Gulbenkian Orchestra/Mena, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Sydney Symphony/Morlot and BBC Symphony/Vedernikov. Recitals take him to Rome, Mexico, Sydney, Wigmore Hall London and to the US including a performance of Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jesus at Lincoln Center.

Marking his 19th year as a Hyperion recording artist, October sees the release of solo music by Debussy. His 26 releases have accumulated numerous awards in the UK, France, Germany and the USA including two Gramophone Awards, three Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Awards and a Choc in Classica Magazine in addition to a clutch of Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and Recordings of the Year from The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times. His recordings span a wide range of repertoire including Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Messiaen, Britten, Tippett, Crumb and Feldman. 

Steven Osborne won first prize at the prestigious Clara Haskil Competition in 1991 and the Naumburg International Competition in 1997. Born in Scotland he studied with Richard Beauchamp at St. Mary's Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He is a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2014