Hélène Grimaud
Renaissance woman Hélène Grimaud is not just a deeply passionate and committed musical artist whose pianistic accomplishments play a central role in her life. Her multiple talents extend far beyond the instrument she plays with such poetic expression and peerless technical control: Grimaud has established herself as a wildlife conservationist, a human rights activist and a writer, her deep dedication to her musical career reflected in and amplified by the scope and depth of her environmental, literary and artistic interests.

She has been an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2002. Her recordings have been critically acclaimed and awarded numerous accolades, among them the Cannes Classical Recording of the Year, Choc du Monde de la musique, Diapason d’or, Grand Prix du disque, Record Academy Prize (Tokyo), Midem Classic Award and the Echo Klassik Award.

Grimaud’s early recordings include Credo and Reflection (both of which feature a number of thematically linked works); a Chopin and Rachmaninov Sonatas disc; a Bartók CD on which she plays the Third Piano Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez; a Beethoven disc with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Vladimir Jurowski which was chosen as one of history’s greatest classical music albums in the iTunes “Classical Essentials” series; a selection of Bach’s solo and concerto works, in which she directed the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen from the piano; and a DVD release of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado.

In 2010 Grimaud recorded the solo recital album Resonances, showcasing music by Mozart, Berg, Liszt and Bartók. This was followed in 2011 by a disc featuring her readings of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 19 and 23 as well as a collaboration with singer Mojca Erdmann in the same composer’s Ch’io mi scordi di te?. Her next release, Duo, recorded with cellist Sol Gabetta, won the 2013 Echo Klassik Award for “chamber recording of the year”, and her album of the two Brahms piano concertos, the First recorded with Andris Nelsons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Second with Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic, appeared in 2013. This was followed by Water(2016), a live recording of performances from tears become… streams become…, the critically-acclaimed large-scale immersive installation at New York’s Park Avenue Armory created by Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon in collaboration with Grimaud. Water features works by nine composers: Berio, Takemitsu, Fauré, Ravel, Albéniz, Liszt, Janáček, Debussy and Nitin Sawhney. 2017 then saw the release of Perspectives, a two-disc personal selection of highlights from her DG catalogue, including two “encores” – Brahms’s Waltz in A flat and Sgambati’s arrangement of Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” – previously unreleased on CD/via streaming.

Grimaud’s next album, Memory, was released in 2018. Exploring music’s ability to bring the past back to life, it comprises a selection of evanescent miniatures by Chopin, Debussy, Satie and Valentin Silvestrov. The pianist then chose to follow this by creating an intriguing dialogue between Silvestrov and Mozart on The Messenger, released in 2020. Together with the Camerata Salzburg, she recorded Mozart’s Piano Concerto K466 and Silvestrov’s Two Dialogues with Postscript and The Messenger – 1996, of which she also created a solo version. Mozart’s Fantasias K397 and K475 complete the programme.

For her latest album, she has explored Silvestrov’s vocal music. On Silent Songs, Grimaud and baritone Konstantin Krimmel perform a selection of pieces from the Ukrainian composer’s monumental song cycle of the same name. Silent Songs will be released in March 2023. “This is music which I find deeply touching in its authenticity and transparency of feelings,” says the pianist.

Recent and forthcoming highlights of Grimaud’s schedule include a recital at Carnegie Hall, at which she played works by Chopin, Debussy, Satie, Schumann and Silvestrov (December 2022); performances of the Schumann Piano Concerto with Camerata Salzburg in Ludwigshafen, Salzburg and Turin (February 2023); and an extensive European recital tour, starting with dates in Vienna, Luxembourg and cities across Switzerland and Germany (March-May 2023).

Hélène Grimaud was born in 1969 in Aix-en-Provence and began her piano studies at the local conservatory with Jacqueline Courtin before going on to work with Pierre Barbizet in Marseille. She was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire at just 13 and won first prize in piano performance a mere three years later. She continued to study with György Sándor and Leon Fleisher until, in 1987, she gave her well-received debut recital in Tokyo. That same year, renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim invited her to perform with the Orchestre de Paris: this marked the launch of Grimaud’s musical career, characterised ever since by concerts with most of the world’s major orchestras and many celebrated conductors.

Between her debut in 1995 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Claudio Abbado and her first performance with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur in 1999 – just two of many notable musical milestones – Grimaud made a wholly different kind of debut: in upper New York State she established the Wolf Conservation Center.

Her love for the endangered species was sparked by a chance encounter with a wolf in northern Florida; this led to her determination to open an environmental education centre. “To be involved in direct conservation and being able to put animals back where they belong,” she says, “there’s just nothing more fulfilling.” But Grimaud’s engagement doesn’t end there: she is also a member of the organisation Musicians for Human Rights, a worldwide network of musicians and people working in the field of music to promote a culture of human rights and social change.

For a number of years she also found time to pursue a writing career, publishing three books that have appeared in various languages. Her first, Variations Sauvages, appeared in 2003. It was followed in 2005 by Leçons particulières, and in 2013 by Retour à Salem, both semi-autobiographical novels.

It is, however, through her thoughtful and tenderly expressive music-making that Hélène Grimaud most deeply touches the emotions of audiences. Fortunately, they have been able to enjoy her concerts worldwide, thanks to the extensive tours she undertakes as a soloist and recitalist. A committed chamber musician, she has also performed at the most prestigious festivals and cultural events with a wide range of musical collaborators, including Sol Gabetta, Rolando Villazón, Jan Vogler, Truls Mørk, Clemens Hagen, Gidon Kremer, Gil Shaham and the Capuçon brothers. Her prodigious contribution to and impact on the world of classical music were recognised by the French government when she was admitted into the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France’s highest decoration) at the rank of Chevalier (Knight).

Konstantin Krimmel
of German-Romanian descent, received his first musical training with the St. Georgs Chorknaben in Ulm. At the age of 21, he then began his vocal studies with Prof. Teru Yoshihara, which the singer completed with distinction in 2020. In the meantime Tobias Truniger is coaching him in Munich. Already during his studies Konstantin Krimmel developed a special love for the concert and lied repertoire, which he is constantly expanding. Winning numerous competitions significantly advanced his career. In the period 2021-2023 Konstantin Krimmel will be promoted as BBC New Generation Artists.

Accordingly, the artist has already toured nationally and internationally: including recitals at the Kölner Philharmonie, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as at the Konzerthaus Berlin, at the Frankfurt Opera, at the Heidelberger Frühling, as a guest at the Schubertíada de Vilabertran as well as the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, in Madrid, in London (Wigmore Hall), at the Concertgebouw and at the Oxford Lied Festival. In the 22/23 season, recitals will take him to Berlin/Boulez-Saal, Barcelona, London, Amsterdam, Cologne and Schwarzenberg/Hohenems, among others.

In the concert field, too, fine projects are waiting for him: among others, he will sing the Brahms Requiem in Rome together with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Jakub Hruša; in December 2022 there will be the Weihnachtsoratorium at the Gewandhaus Leipzig as well as in Montreal. A tour (St. Matthew Passion) with the Rias Kammerchor conducted by Justin Doyle will take him to Amsterdam, Berlin and Essen. In the Berlin Philharmonie he performs Fauré's Requiem under Kent Nagano. In Madrid, Mendelssohn's Elias is on the program with the Orquesta Nacional under the baton of David Afkham, and in Graz he will sing Schumann's Faust Scenes for the first time.

Opera is not forgotten either: since fall 2021 the artist has been a member of the Bavarian State Opera, where he can be heard next season in a new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte (Guglielmo) and further on in Die Zauberflöte (Papageno), in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos (Harlequin) and in Hosokawa's Hanjo (Yoshio).

In March 2021 his CD of Handel's "Brockes Passion" (together with the Ensemble Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen) will be released on the Alpha label, and in April 2022 his new Lied CD "Franz Liszt- Der du vom Himmel bist" with Daniel Heide (piano) will be released on the Avi label. In the fall of 2022, another CD "Die schöne Müllerin" will be released on the alpha label.