Widely celebrated for his considered and profound interpretations of the classical repertoire, Paul Lewis is recognised internationally as one of today’s most distinctive and poetic pianists. His many awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award and the South Bank Show Classical Music Award, both in 2003, a Diapason d’Or de l’Année in France in 2002, two successive Edison awards in Holland in 2004 and 2005, and the Gramophone Instrumental Award and Record of the Year in 2008. In 2006 he was awarded the 25th Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. Between 2005 and 2007, he performed the complete Beethoven Sonatas at venues throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim, and his recordings of the Beethoven cycle for Harmonia Mundi have received unanimous praise throughout the world. His recent disc of Schubert’s Winterreise with Mark Padmore was featured as “Editor’s Choice Disc of the Month” in the November 2009 edition of Gramophone Magazine.

A regular guest at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals he has a particularly strong relationship with London’s Wigmore Hall where he has appeared on more than 30 occasions. He has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Andrew Davis, Marin Alsop, Dimitri Kitajenko, Daniel Harding, Adam Fischer, Richard Hickox, Emmanuel Krivine, and Joseph Swensen.

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Highlights for the 2009/10 season include concerts with the London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, his debut with the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne, a solo recital tour of Australia with Musica Viva, duo recitals with Mark Padmore and Steven Osborne, a recital at the Royal Festival Hall in 2010, a new recording of the Diabelli Variations for Harmonia Mundi, and the start of a two year Schubert project from 2011. Paul is also playing all Beethoven Piano Concerti at the Proms this year.