Skip to page content

Paul Lewis

About this Artist

PAUL LEWIS is internationally regarded as one of the leading pianists of his generation with a busy international schedule of engagements at the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, the South Bank Show Classical Music Award, the Diapason d’or de l’annee, two successive Edison awards, the 25th Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, the "Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik", a Limelight Award in Australia, and three Gramophone awards, including Record of the Year in 2008. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Southampton.

Paul Lewis's complete cycles of core works by Beethoven and Schubert have earned him unanimous critical acclaim from all over the world.  His Schubert cycle came to an end in triumphant style at the close of the 12/13 season with performances in over 40 worldwide centres of the last three sonatas 

Paul Lewis works regularly with many of the world's great orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, LA Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic,  Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Czech Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, in collaboration with such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons, Paavo Järvi, Jiri Belohlavek, Pablo Heras-Casado, and Stephane Deneve. 

His recital career takes him to venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall, Carnegie and Alice Tully Hall New York, Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Philharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, Toppan Hall and Oji Hall Tokyo, Orchestra Hall Chicago, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zurich, Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Palau de Musica Barcelona, and the Sydney Opera House. 

Paul Lewis is a frequent guest at the many of the world's most prestigious festivals, including Lucerne, Mostly Mozart in New York, Tanglewood, Schubertiade, Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Antheron, Rheingau, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and London’s BBC Proms where in 2010 he became the first pianist to perform a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in one season.

His multi award winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and the Diabelli Variations, Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and other works, all the major piano works from the last six years of Schubert's life, and the 3 Schubert song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore.  He has also recorded Mozart’s Piano Quartets, Schubert’s Trout Quintet, and a Schubert duet disc with pianist Steven Osborne for Hyperion Records. Future recording plans for Harmonia Mundi include Brahms piano concerto no.1 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding, and solo works by Schumann and Mussorgsky.

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.