Peter Jablonski, Elisa Brauß, The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Nicholas Collon
Biography Peter Jablonski, Elisa Brauß, The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Nicholas Collon
Peter Jablonski
Described in 2022 by the Gramophone as 'a pianist in full flower of his mature, imaginative artistry', Peter Jablonski is an award-winning internationally acclaimed Swedish pianist. He is among the leading pianists of his generation, and during the last thirty years on international stages has performed with over 150 orchestras, given over 2000 concerts, and has been on 25 tours of Japan. Discovered by Abbado and Ashkenazy and signed by Decca in his seventeenth year, he went on to perform, collaborate, and record with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, which include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Kirov (now Mariinsky), La Scala Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestre Nationale de France, NHK Tokyo, DSO Berlin, Warsaw Philharmonic, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev, Andris Nelsons, Daniel Harding, Kurt Sanderling, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, and Myung-Whun Chung.
He appeared in concert and recitals in famous venues around the world, which include the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican in London, Philharmonie Berlin, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, Salle Pleyel Paris, Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, among many others.
He has performed and recorded the complete piano concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Bartók, and all piano sonatas by Prokofiev. During his three-decade-long career he developed a diverse repertoire that includes works by Barber, Gershwin, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Copland, Stenhammar, with most recent additions of such composers as Valborg Aulin, Elfrida Andrée, Ronald Stevenson, Alexey Stanchinsky, and Grażyna Bacewicz.
He worked with composers Witold Lutosławski and Arvo Pärt, and had a number of works composed for, and dedicated to him, including Wojciech Kilar’s Piano Concerto, for which he won the Orpheus award for the world premiere performance at the Warsaw Autumn Festival. He remains a supporter of today’s composers and regularly gives world premieres of new works.
Jablonski’s extensive discography includes recordings he has made for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Altara, Octavia, and Ondine labels. He received numerous awards for his recordings, which include the Edison award for best concerto recording of Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Lutoslawski’s Paganini Rhapsody with Ashkenazy and RPO for Decca. He was presented with the Grammophone Classical Music Award for his Deutsche Grammophone recording of works by Cécile Chaminade with Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg.
Peter Jablonski is the recipient of the Litteris et Artibus medal for his services to culture, granted to him by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf. He is also the winner of the prestigious prize Årets Svensk i Världen (International Swedish Personality of the Year), receiving it before ABBA and Astrid Lindgren. In May 2022 he was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Highlights of the 2022/23 season include performances of Grażyna Bacewicz Piano Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR), a recital tour of Sweden, and appearances in concerts and recitals in Poland, Germany, Japan, and Sweden.
In 2022, he was asked to become a global ambassador for Karol Szymanowski, in a multi-year project in which Jablonski will perform and record the composer's music throughout Europe and rest of the world, and take part in a film about Szymanowski's life and work.
Peter Jablonski maintains a busy recording schedule, and his forthcoming Ondine releases include both piano concerti by Grażyna Bacewicz and the second volume of the complete mazurkas by Chopin in 2023, and works by Karol Szymanowski and Ronald Stevenson in 2024.
On 14 December 2022, Peter Jablonski was awarded the prestigious French Academy Charles Cros Award, Contemporary Music, for his Bacewicz album.
Elisabeth Brauß
has been praised by Gramophone Magazine for “the maturity and sophistication of her thoughtful interpretations” which “would be the pride of any pianist twice her age”. Born in Hannover in 1995, Elisabeth is quickly establishing herself as one of the most exciting and versatile musicians of her generation.
As a member of the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme, Elisabeth has many solo, chamber and concerto engagements across the UK. In 2021 she made her debut at the BBC Proms, performing Mozart with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. In a new partnership between this scheme and the Hallé Orchestra, she was recently announced as recipient of the Terence Judd-Hallé Award, given to a NGA graduate considered to be on the cusp of a major international career.
This season, Elisabeth makes her debut with Hallé Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and Göttinger Symphonie Orchester. In recent seasons she has also performed with BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony and Ulster Orchestras, in addition to dates with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in her native Germany.
During the 2021/22 season Elisabeth’s solo performances will include Cologne, London (Wigmore Hall) and Hamburg, where she will take part in Max Richter’s Reflektor Festival at the Elbphilharmonie. She enjoys playing chamber music and has appeared with the violinist Noa Wildschut throughout Europe, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Philharmonie Halls in both Paris and Cologne. This season their engagements include the Young Artists Series promoted by San Francisco Symphony. Elisabeth also works regularly with the trumpet player Simon Höfele, with whom she will be touring to promote their recent release ‘New Standards’.
In May 2017, her debut CD featuring works by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Chopin and Denhoff, was released by OehmsClassics. It received critical acclaim and was named ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone Magazine. Since then, she has gone on to release three more albums, collaborating with Valentino Worlitzsch, Simon Höfele, and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn featuring compositions by Max Richter to commemorate Beethoven's 250th anniversary.
In addition to winning first prize at the International Steinway Competition in Hamburg, and the International Grotrian Steinweg Piano Competition in Braunschweig, Elisabeth was awarded the Prätorius Musikpreis Lower Saxony Prize in 2012. Further accolades include the main and audience awards at the TONALi Grand Prix in Hamburg (2013) and first prize at the Kissinger KlavierOlymp (October 2016).
