Lisa Smirnova

"Lisa Smirnova was ebullient and communicative, clearly seeing beyond the technicality and even the artistry of the piece, tapping directly into the soul of the composer. Heavy with drama, her commanding style nearly overwhelmed the other musicians. Ironically, the orchestra was at its best when it was the most subtle, an almost inaudible underpinning to Smirnova’s improvisation." The Columbus Dispatch

Videos

“The Russian-born pianist Lisa Smirnova essayed Rachmaninoff’s rhapsody on a theme of Paganini giving proof of high-level artistic playing. She has a beautiful tone, round, resonant and never percussive. Her performance proves, once again, that the less the performer moves around, the more control you will have”. Joseph Gold, Piedmont Post Newspaper

"As if Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter were resurrected, so appears the powerful piano performance of the Russian-Austrian pianist Lisa Smirnova... . unceasing arcs of suspense and a fully elastic balance between sound and energetics characterise the distinguished performance of this Moscow-born, exceptional pianist..." Herbert Schranz, Kleine Zeitung, Graz

"… a performance almost unique in its own more epic way, allowing it to stand with the many other fine accounts by Buchbinder, Barenboim, Brendel, Schnabel and scores of others." Classical.net, May 2017, Robert Cummings

"Lisa Smirnova is a shining light in pianist heaven: cleanest technique, variable touch, powerful as well as sensitive presentation, for all her brilliance nowhere a virtuoso tinkling, in contrast clear structure and articulate emphasis, even in the most rapid passages. And her modest being, full of endearing humanity, enthrals all the more." Karin Berg-Kotterba, Schwarzwälder Bote

Photos

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Concerti

J. S. Bach Piano Concertos
D Minor, BWV 1052
F Minor, BWV 1056

E-Major, BWV 1054
A Major, BWV 1055
G-Minor, BWV 1058
D-major BWV 1054

Haydn Piano Concertos
D Major, Hob. XVIII:11
G Major, Hob. XVIII:4
F Major, Hob. XVIII:3
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in F Major, Hob. XVIII:6

Mozart Piano Concertos
E flat Major, K. 271
Rondo in D Major, K. 382
F Major, K. 413
A Major, K. 414
C-major, K. 415
E flat Major, K. 449
G Major, K. 453
D Minor, K. 466
C Major, K. 467
A Major, K. 488
C Minor, K. 491

C-Major, K. 503
B flat Major, K. 595

Beethoven Piano Concertos
C Major, op.15
B flat Major, op.19
C Minor, op. 37
G Major, op. 58
E flat Major, op. 73
Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra, op. 56
Phantasy for Piano, Choir and Orchestra, op. 80

Schubert / Liszt
Wanderer – Phantasy (Arr. for Piano and Orchestra)

Mendelssohn Piano Concertos
G Minor, op. 25
D Minor, op. 40
Capriccio brillante in B Minor, 0p. 22
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orcherstra in D minor

Schumann
Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54

Introduction and Concert-Allegro in D Minor, op. 134

Brahms Piano Concertos
d – moll, op.15
B - Dur, op. 83

Grieg
Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16

Ravel
Piano Concerto in G Major

Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 1, op. 23

Rachmaninoff
Rapsody on a Theme by Paganini, op. 43

W. Lutoslawski
Paganini -Variations (Version for Piano and Orchestra, 1970)

Bartok
Piano Concerto No. 3 Sz 119

F. Poulenc
Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor

Gershwin
Rhapsody in blue

Shostakovich
Piano Concerto No. 2. op. 102

G. Ustvolskaya
Concerto for Piano and Strings (1946)

W. Rihm
Sotto Voce I (1999)

R. Shchedrin
Concerto lontano for Piano and Strings (2003)

V. Pelecis
Concerto Bianco, op. 44

M. Gorecki
Concerto for Piano and Strings, op. 40

F. Gulda
Concerto for Myself

Piazzolla
The Four Seasons

(arrangement for Piano and String Orchestra)

V. Silvestrov
“Postludium” for Piano and Orchesrta
“Five moments of Memory” for Piano and Strings

Bio

Lisa Smirnova

Piano

Austrian-Russian pianist Lisa Smirnova is an internationally recognized concert artist renowned for her interpretations of Baroque and Classical repertoire. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently remarked that her sense of style, use of phrasing, ornamentation and tempi, makes the piano an instrument of harmony of vibrating strings, give her performance its transcendent and unmistakable character. Since her debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 20, she has been a much sought after soloist on stages around the world, has held residencies at countless music festivals, and, since 2016 has been the new director of the Young Talents Program at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Lisa Smirnova has appeared in the world’s finest recital halls - the Wigmore Hall London, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as well as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and has also appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein and Salzburg’s Mozartwoche. She has performed with distinguished conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Carlos Kalmar, Andrey Boreyko, John Storgards, and Ivor Bolton among others. A champion of contemporary music, the artist regularly collaborates with renowned composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Rodion Schedrin, Giya Kancheli and Valentin Silvestrov.

Her previous recordings, spanning the standard repertoire, have been given the highest praise by critics worldwide. In 2012, she gave an impressive demonstration of just how closely connected she felt to the repertoire with a recording of Handel’s Eight London Suites for ECM, which was equally well received by both critics and the public. This ECM album won the BBC Instrumental Choice of the year in 2012. The Financial Times remarked that “Smirnova shows, what we, and most pianists, have been missing, for she paints the gigues, fugues and sarabandes with such spirit and wit, that it’s impossible not to be won over by their joy and sophistication”.

From a growing desire to be able to design a comprehensive, historically informed sound of the Baroque and Classical repertoire on a modern grand piano, and within a formation of other musicians, Lisa Smirnova founded the New Classic Ensemble Vienna in 2007, with whom she now realizes many of her artistic projects.

Throughout the Beethoven Anniversary Year 2020 the artist will present a major project featuring two World Premieres. the new version of the Mahler´s 10th Symphony specially arranged for the New Classic Ensemble Vienna by the Austrian-Russian composer Maxim Seloujanov as well as the multimedia performance of the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in the version for Piano and String Ensemble by Vinzenz Lachner.