ARTIST PROFILE

Gottlieb Wallisch

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1978 in Vienna into a family of musicians, Gottlieb Wallisch was admitted to the Vienna University of Music and Drama at the age of six. He studied with Heinz Medjimorec and graduated with honours from this University. Wallisch received further important artistic influence from Oleg Maisenberg and Dmitrij Bashkirov and also gained further expertise with Pascal Devoyon in Berlin and Jacques Rouvier in Paris.

At the age of 16, the young pianist won the first prize in the prestigious international piano competition "The Stravinsky Awards" (USA) where he was also awarded three special awards: the "Joseph Haydn Prize", the "Igor Stravinsky Prize" and the "Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich". His most recent successes include becoming the youngest laureate of the 1999 "Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition" in Belgium.

Gottlieb Wallisch appears frequently in many of Europe's major concert halls (including the Wigmore Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall London, Tonhalle Zurich, Musikverein Vienna) presenting solo recitals as well as appearing as soloist with international orchestras and conductors such as the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin and the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Giuseppe Sinopoli, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies, the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra under Louis Langrée, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Müller-Brühl, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Brabants Orkest, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.

Wallisch has undertaken concert tours to Japan, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary and Great Britain. A tour to the United States in 1997 included concerts in Washington D.C. and a highly acclaimed debut recital at Carnegie Hall in New York. In most recent years he made his debuts at the "Klavierfestival Ruhr" in Germany and the Lucerne Festival.

For the 2001/02 season Gottlieb Wallisch was selected for the International "Rising Stars" series in the course of which he gave solo recitals at the Societé Philharmonique in Brussels, the Athens Concert Hall, Konserthuset Stockholm, Musikverein Vienna, and returned once again to the Wigmore Hall, London and the Carnegie Hall, New York. 2002 saw Gottlieb Wallisch perform at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and in August, his debut at the Salzburg Festival met with great critical appraisal. A few weeks later, he gave the world premiere performance of a newly written Piano Concerto by Austrian composer Sebastian Themessl at the opening of the festival "Klangspuren Schwaz" in Tyrol, Austria. In June 2003, Mr Wallisch performed under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner as part of the Vienna Festival. Last season's highlights include his debuts at the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Kölner Philharmonie and at "De Doelen" Rotterdam.

In addition to being a soloist Gottlieb Wallisch dedicates a significant part of his time to chamber music. He enjoyed fruitful collaborations with the Küchl-Quartet and Alois Posch, the Wiener Virtuosen, Oleg Maisenberg, Milan Turkovic and Jan Kobow to name but a few.

Gottlieb Wallisch has broadcast amongst others for ORF Radio, Austria, Radio France International, RTBF Belgium and the BBC London. His CD publications include works by Haydn, Schumann, Brahms and Stravinsky as well as works by Mozart, Strauss, Brahms and Pfitzner. A new recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Petrenko was released in December 2002. Most recently the "Naxos"-label issued the first CD of a series with Schubert's Piano Sonatas which will be continued in the coming years.