STEPHEN KOVACEVICH – President of the Jury

Stephen Kovacevich is one of the most searching interpreters.  As a pianist he has won unsurpassed admiration for his playing of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Schubert.

Born in Los Angeles, Stephen Kovacevich made his concert debut as a pianist at the age of eleven.  When he was eighteen he moved to England to study with Dame Myra Hess.  Since then his international reputation has been built both on his concert appearances, renowned for their thoughtfulness and re-creative intensity, and on the highly acclaimed recordings he has made throughout his career. He has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors including Colin Davis, Hans Graf, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle and Georg Solti.

Stephen Kovacevich remains a consummate and insightful performer: After a recent performance in Barcelona in January 2014, one critic remarked “Kovacevich gave, without any limitation, the measure of a truly great artist” (El Mundo).

Performance highlights this season include two recitals at the Salle Pleyel Paris (December 2014 and May 2015), an extensive tour of the Far East including Korea, Taiwan and China, alongside a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast to celebrate their week long focus on Brahms in October 2014 as well as recitals in London (Wigmore Hall), Boston, Dublin and Cardiff to name a few. Recent concerto highlights include a triumphant return to Montreal Symphony Orchestra (under David Zinman), Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (with Sylvain Cambreling), Malaysian Philharmonic (Jacek Kaspszyk), Orchestre de chambre de Paris (John Nelson) and Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy). Stephen recently performed to a sell out audience for his recital at the International Piano Series at the Queen Elisbaeth Hall in London. In addition, Stephen is a regular soloist at the Verbier and Lugano festivals.

Stephen Kovacevich has enjoyed two long-term relationships with recording companies, first Philips and then EMI.  Great projects of his work with EMI include a compelling series of Schubert Sonatas and a set of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas completed in 2003, hailed as one of the most authoritative ever recorded. One critic described The Hammerklavier as: ‘an unflinching, sometimes combative view of a titanic masterpiece, and a version to be spoken of in the same breath as those of Brendel, Gilels and Pollini…’ Kovacevich announces the music’s potency from the first bar. He also worked extensively with Colin Davis recording the Piano Concertos of Beethoven and Brahms and most notably Bartok’s Piano Concerto No.2.

In 2009 Stephen Kovacevich released, to unanimous critical praise, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations for Onyx Classics, exactly forty years after his first recording of the work for Philips in 1968. The Financial Times wrote, ’a temperamental, almost explosive approach that resonates with rhythmic and nervous energy but also leaves room for elegance, wit and introspection. Kovacevich’s journey is always engrossing and never less than Beethovenian.’ This recording won the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award.

Stephen Kovacevich is a committed chamber music player who, from the beginning of his career, collaborated with Jacqueline du Pré for their celebrated recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas No. 3 and 5. Stephen Kovacevich is a committed chamber music player who, from the beginning of his career, collaborated with Jacqueline du Pré for their celebrated recording of Beethoven’s Sonatas No. 3 and 5. He has worked with many great artists since and continues to do so into the present day.