PAUL LEWIS

Paul Lewis is internationally recognised as one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire. His performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert for Harmonia Mundi have received universal critical acclaim. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music, while the honesty, intellectual depth and expressive integrity of his musicianship have earned him exceptional international esteem.

He performs regularly with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra. His strong ties with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood in 2020.

Renowned for his affinity with Beethoven’s music, Lewis appeared in the BBC’s acclaimed three-part documentary Being Beethoven and performed the complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos at Tanglewood in 2022. He has presented the cycle throughout the world and became the first pianist to perform all five concertos in a single BBC Proms season, in 2010.

Alongside his award-winning Beethoven recordings, Lewis’s extensive discography for Harmonia Mundi reflects the same depth of insight in the Romantic repertoire, with acclaimed recordings devoted to Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms and Liszt.

In chamber music, Paul Lewis has enjoyed a long-standing artistic partnership with tenor Mark Padmore, with whom he has performed lieder recitals worldwide and recorded Schubert’s three great song cycles. Between 2022 and 2024, he undertook an ambitious Schubert Piano Sonata Series, presenting the complete sonatas from the final twelve years of the composer’s life in major international venues. He is also Co-Artistic Director of Midsummer Music, the annual chamber music festival in Buckinghamshire.

Among his many distinctions are the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year Award, two Edison Awards, three Gramophone Awards, a Diapason d’Or de l’Année, and a South Bank Show Classical Music Award. He has also received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Liverpool, Edge Hill, and Southampton. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Lewis appears regularly at many of the world’s leading recital venues, including London’s Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein, the Konzerthaus Wien, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Konzerthaus Berlin.

His festival appearances include Tanglewood, Ravinia, Schubertiade, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Lucerne.