Alexander Lonquich, piano
Alexander Lonquich was born in Trier, Germany. In 1977, he won the first prize in the Casagrande competition dedicated to Schubert. Since then, he has given concerts in Japan, the United States, and major European music centers.
He has worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Kurt Sanderling, Ton Koopman, Emmanuel Krivine, Heinz Holliger and Marc Minkowski. His past relationship with Sandor Vègh and the Camerata Salzburg, where he is still a regular guest conductor, is special in this respect.
His activities in the field of chamber music also play an important role. Alexander Lonquich has collaborated with artists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Nicolas Altstaedt, Vilde Frang, Joshua Bell, Heinrich Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Isabelle Faust, Carolin Widmann, Jörg Widmann, Boris Pergamenschikov, Heinz Holliger and Frank Peter Zimmermann.
He has received numerous awards from international critics, such as the “Diapason d’Or”, the “Premio Abbiati” (as best soloist of 2016) and the “Edison Prize” in the Netherlands.
In 2003, Alexander Lonquich formed a piano duo with his wife Cristina Barbuti that has performed in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway and the United States.
In his concerts he often appears in the dual role of pianist and fortepianist, ranging from C.P.E. Bach to Schumann and Chopin, whose Concerto in F minor he recorded for the Frederick Chopin Institute on an Erard piano with Philippe Herreweghe.
As a solo conductor, Alexander Lonquich regularly collaborates with the Mantua Chamber Orchestra – with whom he has researched and expanded the complete Mozart piano concertos – and has worked with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilarmonie, the Camerata Salzburg, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, and the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, among others.
Of particular note was the project with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI in the spring of 2009, in which the complete Schubert symphonies were performed in five different concerts, along with Beethoven’s piano concertos.
He performs regularly for the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, with whom he also collaborates as soloist-director since the 2011/12 season.
Alexander Lonquich also has an intense concert activity abroad: he was “artist in residence” during the 2015/16 season at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester (North German Radio Orchestra) in Hamburg, and then at the 2017 Prague Spring Festival, where he also performed as a soloist and conductor with the Camerata Salzburg. He is a frequent guest at festivals of international importance, including the Schubertiade, the Lockenhaus, the Mozartwoche Salzburg in Austria, the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele and the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker in Germany.
After having made recordings for EMI devoted to Mozart, Schumann and Schubert, he began a collaboration with ECM by recording the music of the Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn and a CD of French piano music from the beginning of the 20th century with Fauré’s Improptus, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Messiaen’s Préludes. He then recorded, still for ECM, Holliger’s Kreisleriana and Partita and a CD entirely devoted to Schubert, with Carolin Widmann.
The 2018 release of a double CD for the Alpha-Outhere label entitled ‘Schubert 1828’ containing the Sonatas D958, D959 and D960, was a great success with audiences and critics alike, In February 2019, Alexander Lonquich was awarded the prestigious “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2019”.
In 2020, a double CD was released, in collaboration with Nicolas Altstaedt, containing the complete Sonatas for Cello and Piano and the Beethoven Variations (Alpha Classics).
In addition to his numerous engagements as a concert artist, Alexander Lonquich has over the years combined intense work in the field of teaching, giving masterclasses in Europe, the United States and Australia. He has also collaborated with the Accademia Pianistica di Imola, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Since 2014, he has been the principal conductor of the OTO – Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, with whom he performs during each season also as a soloist, contributing to the training of young musicians and the expansion of the ensemble’s repertoire.
In July 2020, Alexander Lonquich was appointed artistic director of the Fondazione Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
Since 2013, he and his wife Cristina have created the Kantoratelier, a small theatrical space in their home in Florence, where the subjects that are dear to him – psychology, music and theater – are explored through workshops, seminars and concerts.
photographic credits:
Josef Fischnaller Warner Classics