Stephen Kovacevich

STEPHEN KOVACEVICH has long been recognized as one of the most distinguished and revered artists of his generation. With an international career spanning more than six decades, he is among the world's most sought-after pianists and interpreters of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert. A musician completely absorbed in his craft, his interpretations are like no one else’s and always eminate directly from the heart: usical messages of wisdom, peace, resignation, and hope (“The Washington Post”). He was born in Los Angeles in 1940 to a Croatian father and an American mother. When his mother remarried, his name was changed to Stephen Bishop and that is how he was known in his early career. Later, due to the chance of confusion with another musician with the same name (the singer and guitarist Stephen Bishop), he became known as Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich, and later as Stephen Kovacevich. His career as a concert pianist began when he was 11 years old. In 1958 he moved to England to study under the renowned Dame Myra Hess. His European debut at Wigmore Hall in 1961 with the Sonata by Alban Berg, three Bach Preludes and Fugues and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations was sensational. On the occasion of his second recording of the Diabelli Variations, The Guardian noted that Кovacevich has said that since his teens he has been drawn to composers’ late works, and typically it was with the Diabelli Variations, Beethoven’s final large-scale work for piano, that he made his London debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1961, in a recital that also included Berg and Bach. It was his recording of the Diabelli seven years later that really sealed his international reputation: it remains one of the finest performances of this hugely demanding work ever recorded; a model of musical and intellectual clarity, which never parades the music’s technical difficulties for their own sake (Guardian, October, 20^th, 2015). The young musician toured the UK with Jacqueline du Pré. In 1967 he made his New York debut and since then he has toured Europe, the USA, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and South America. He has played with many of the world's finest orchestras and conductors including Hans Graf, Kurt Masur, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir George Solti. His appearances include performances as soloist with the Aurora Orchestra with Nicholas Collon, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with David Zinman, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony with Sylvain Cambreling, as well as recitals in Europe, Asia and the USA - at the NCPA (National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing), Phillips Collection (Washington DC), Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), and the Wigmore Hall (London). He performs regularly across the Far East, Australia and New Zealand and is a regular guest at prestigious festivals around the world - Lugano, Verbier, and the Mariinsky International Piano Festival, etc. During his long career, Kovacevich forged lasting artistic partnerships, such as with Sir Colin Davis, with whom he made many outstanding recordings, including the legendary Bartok Piano Concerto No. 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He also has a long-standing professional collaboration with Martha Argerich, whom he regularly performs in duo on the world’s leading concert stages. Recent highlights for the Argerich-Kovacevich Duo include recitals at Het Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Philharmonie (Paris), Victoria Hall (Geneva), the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), and the Wigmore Hall (London). Dedicated to chamber music, Kovacevich has performed over the years with luminaries such as Lynn Harrell, Jacqueline du Pré and Joseph Suk, and regularly partners with violinists Nicola Benedetti, Renaud Capuçon, and Alina Ibragimova; cellists Gautier Capuçon, Steven Isserlis, and Truls Mørk; flautist Emmanuel Pahud; and the Amadeus, Belcea, and Cleveland quartets. Stephen Kovacevich enjoys a long-standing relationship with the Philips and EMI record companies. In the late 1960s and 1970s he realised a large number of albums for Philips and then, in the mid 1990s, for EMI. But before he became involved with Philips, he recorded Beethoven's Cello and Piano Sonatas for EMI with Jacqueline du Pré, with whom he performed extensively. On the occasion of his 75th birthday, Decca produced a limited edition of 25 CDs of all his recordings for Philips. His performance of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations in 2008, 40 years after his first CD, won him the Classic FM Gramophone Editor's Choice Award (2009) and the Gramophone Magazine Top Choice Award (2015). Gramophone Magazine wrote:His seasoned yet fearless mastery reveals something new with each hearing… In addition to his performing career, Kovacevich leads masterclasses and recitals at Dartington International Summer School, a summer school and music festival held at the medieval manor house Dartington Hall in Devon, England. He has conducted the London Mozart Players Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, among others.