Biography
Stephen Kovacevich
Stephen Kovacevich has had a long and distinguished career as a musician known for his searching interpretations and re-creative intensity. As a pianist he has won unsurpassed admiration for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Schubert while his conducting has received warm praise for his work with orchestras throughout the world in repertoire from the 18th and 19th centuries. His international reputation has been built both on his concert appearances and on the highly acclaimed recordings he has made throughout his career.
Mr. Kovacevich has enjoyed two long-term relationships with recording companies, first Philips and then EMI. His concerto recordings for Philips, including Beethoven, Schumann and Bartók, have long been staples of the catalogue. As an exclusive EMI artist, he recorded both Brahms Piano Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Sawallisch – No. 1 was Grammy-nominated and won the 1993 Gramophone Award and the Stereo Review Record of the Year, while No 2 won the Diapason D'Or. His series of Schubert sonatas and the set of the 32 Beethoven sonatas for EMI won praise from critics around the world. His most recent release is Beethoven's Diabelli Variations for Onyx Classics, recorded exactly 40 years after his first recording of the work for Philips. The CD also includes Bach's Partita No. 4 and received the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Editor's Choice Award.
Stephen Kovacevich has appeared with orchestras and in recital worldwide. Recent and upcoming international performance highlights include concerto appearances with the Orchestra de Paris/Zinman, Residentie Orchestra/Rizzi, Rotterdam Philharmonic/Nezet-Seguin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and recitals in London, Paris, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai.
His recent and upcoming engagements in North America include performances with the Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Houston, Detroit and Indianapolis symphonies and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and recitals in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Toronto, New York's Metropolitan Museum and at the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Also a committed chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Steven Isserlis, Renaud and Gautier Capucon, Kyung- Wha Chung, Truls Mork, Emmanuel Pahud and Anna Larsson.
On October 17, 2010 Stephen Kovacevich celebrates his 70th birthday with a concert at the Wigmore Hall, a venue he performed in for the first time over 50 years ago. Artists taking part in the concert include Martha Argerich and the Belcea Quartet.
Since making his conducting debut in 1984 with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Kovacevich has conducted many of the world's finest orchestras, including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Mozart Players, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Gulbenkian and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. After an initial concentration on 18th-century music (especially Mozart), Kovacevich's conducting repertoire has expanded to 19th-century Romantic music, including the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms,Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.
A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Kovacevich made his debut as a pianist at the age of 11. Seven years later he moved to London to study with Dame Myra Hess and he has been a resident of London since that time.