Legendary pianist Angela Hewitt, a Gramophone Magazine Hall of Famer, opens the Festival with J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. Renowned for her exceptional artistry, Hewitt is celebrated as one of the finest interpreters of Bach, praised by BBC Music Magazine for her “subtlety, beauty of tone and instrumental command.”

Program: J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

“I know of no musician whose Bach playing on any instrument is of greater subtlety, beauty of tone, persuasiveness of judgement or instrumental command than Hewitt’s is here” (BBC Music Magazine)

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Angela Hewitt occupies a unique position among today’s leading pianists. With a wide-ranging repertoire and frequent appearances in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, Americas and Asia, she is also an award-winning recording artist whose performances of Bach have established her as one of that composer’s foremost interpreters. In 2020 she received the City of Leipzig Bach Medal: a huge honor that for the first time in its 17-year history was awarded to a woman. Hewitt’s Bach Odyssey cycle (2016–22), in which she performed the complete keyboard works of Bach across 12 recitals worldwide, was highly acclaimed.

In March 2024, Hewitt embarked on her latest major project entitled ​‘The Mozart Odyssey’, comprising Mozart’s complete piano concertos, a project that continues in 2024/25 with engagements spanning nine countries. As conductor from the keyboard, Hewitt’s collaborations have included the Cameristi della Scala and the London Mozart Players (among others) for the Mozart project. She has also led several chamber orchestras including Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Camerata, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York.

Hewitt’s award-winning cycle for Hyperion Records of all the major keyboard works of Bach has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times). Her extensive discography includes works by composers spanning the 17th through 20th centuries. Her most recent recordings include the first two volumes of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas, with the final set due for release in 2025. In 2023, Hewitt’s complete catalogue became available on all major streaming platforms, including her critically acclaimed Diapason d’Or recording of the Goldberg Variations. A regular in the USA Billboard chart, her album Love Songs stayed for months at the top of the specialist classical chart in the UK. In 2015 she was inducted into Gramophone Magazine’s Hall of Fame.

In 1985, Hewitt won the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition, which launched her career. In 2018 she received the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2015 she received the highest honor from her native country – becoming a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2006 she was awarded an OBE from Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2020 Hewitt was awarded the Wigmore Medal in recognition of her services to music and relationship with the hall over 35 years.

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