Gilles Vonsattel
2009 Honens Laureate
Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of uncommon breadth with a repertory that ranges from J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue to the complete works of Xenakis. He is Laureate of the 2009 Honens International Piano Competition, recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the Naumburg and Geneva Competitions. He made his Alice Tully Hall recital debut in 2002 and has appeared with esteemed orchestras including the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the San Francisco Symphony, the Warsaw Philharmonic and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève.
In solo and chamber music performances, he has appeared at the Tonhalle Zürich, Wigmore Hall in London and Munich’s Gasteig, and at international festivals including the Gilmore, Caramoor and la Roque d’Anthéron. Vonsattel is committed to the performance of contemporary works, having given premieres on both sides of the Atlantic, and has worked closely with composers including Ned Rorem, Nico Muhly and Heinz Holliger. He received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Columbia University and a master’s degree in Music Performance from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. Vonsattel is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His recording of works by Debussy, Holliger, Honegger and Ravel was released on the Honens label in July 2011, and was named one of the year’s best classical albums in Time Out New York.
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