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André
Laplante
Behre Series I
July 2-6, 2008
Over
the last decade, Canadian pianist André Laplante has firmly
established himself as one of the great romantic virtuosos. He garnered
international attention after winning prizes at the Geneva and Sydney
International Piano Competitions, then capturing the silver medal
at the International Tchaïkovsky Competition in Moscow . Critics
have compared him with Ashkenazy, Horowitz and Rudolph Serkin, placing
him in the elite circle of virtuoso pianists who do not hesitate
to take risks.
In 2005, Mr. Laplante was honored to be named an Officer of the
Order of Canada . His performance of Jacques Hetu's Piano Concerto
No. 2 for CBC Records won the 2004 Juno award for orchestral recordings,
as well as the Western Canadian Music Award.
In recent years, Laplante has appeared as orchestral soloist with
the Montréal and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, the Minnesota
Orchestra conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, on tour in Europe with
the Toronto Symphony under Andrew Davis and with the Royal Philharmonic
under the baton of the late Sir Yehudi Menuhin during their extensive
North American tour.
Recent seasons have also included a major concert tour of the People's
Republic of China, recital tours of the Far East, Australia and
North America, and appearances at major music festivals, including
the Debussy Festival (France), Pecs Festival (Hungary), Orford Festival
(Canada), Cascais Festival (Portugal), Salzburg Festival (Austria),
Festival International de Lanaudière (Canada), International
Summer Festival (Canada), Domaine Forget (Canada), and the TCU-Van
Cliburn Institute (USA). Mr. Laplante performed with the Dewan Filharmonik
Petronas in Malaysia as well as a critically acclaimed appearance
with orchestra and quartet in an all French Festival with the Buffalo
Philharmonic. He also appeared with the Columbus Symphony, National
Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa and Club Musical de Québec,
as well as performances with the Toronto, Québec, Winnipeg,
Edmonton, Vancouver, Lexington, Pasadena and México City
symphonies.
André Laplante has served as a juror of the Tchaikovsky International
Piano Competition, the International Music Festival in Australia,
the CBC National Competition (Canada's most prestigious), the Honens
International Piano Competition, the William Kapell International
Piano Competition and the Van Cluburn International Piano Competition
for Outstanding Amateurs.
An active recording artist, André Laplante's releases on
the Analekta label include works by Liszt (Félix 1995), Ravel
and Rachmaninov, as well as an award winning Brahms album (Félix
1996). He has also recorded for CBC and Melodia. His recording of
Tchaikovsky No. 1 with Joav Talmi and l'Orchestre Symphonique de
Québec, was nominated for the 2001 Felix Award.
In 1999, Mr. Laplante received two Opus Awards for live performances:
"Best Concert in Montréal" and "Best Concert
in Québec Province ."
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