PiotrAnderszewski
- Piano


About Piotr
Anderszewski is regarded as one of the outstanding musicians of his generation and performs at major concert venues around the world.
He appears regularly with many of the world’s great symphony orchestras, with a special emphasis on play-directing. He has recorded Mozart concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Sinfonia Varsovia, as well as Beethoven’s first piano concerto with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Highlights of his 24/25 season include recitals at the London Barbican, Berlin’s Boulez Saal, concerto engagements with the Tonhalle Orchestra and Danish National Symphony.
Throughout his career Anderszewski has concentrated on the classic German/Viennese repertoire encompassing Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Webern. He is also drawn to 20th century central European music, particularly that of Szymanowski and Janáček.
An exclusive artist with Warner Classics since 2000 - his first recording for the label was Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which went on to receive a number of notable awards. He has also recorded Grammy-nominated discs of Bach's Partitas 1, 3 and 6 and Szymanowski's solo piano works, the latter also receiving a Gramophone award in 2006. His recording devoted to works by Robert Schumann was named the BBC Music Magazine's Recording of the Year in 2012. Other Gramophone awards followed in 2015 for Bach English Suites and in 2021 for his specially-selected set of 12 Preludes and Fugues from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier Book 2. A live performance of the Preludes and Fugues from Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie has since been released on DVD. His latest album is dedicated to piano works by Janáček, Szymanowski and Bartók.
Anderszewski has collaborated with various instrumentalists, including Viktoria Mullova, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Nikolaj Znaider and the Belcea Quartet. As a lieder partner he has worked with Matthias Goerne and most recently in recital with Ian Bostridge in Paris and Krakow featuring Schumann’s Dichterliebe.
Awarded the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award in 2002, Anderszewki’s artistic life has been the subject of several documentaries by the film maker Bruno Monsaingeon. 'Piotr Anderszewski plays Diabelli Variations' (2001) explores Anderszewski's particular relationship with Beethoven's iconic work. 'Unquiet Traveller' (2008) is an unusual artist portrait, capturing Anderszewski's reflections on music, the composers with whom he has a particular affinity and his Polish-Hungarian roots.In 2016 he found himself behind the camera directing "Warsaw is my name", a film dedicated to the city of his birth.
He is currently writing a book reflecting on his experience as a musician and performer.
Representation
Season Highlights
Video
- Playing
Piotr Anderszewski – Bartók: 14 Bagatelles, Op. 6, Sz. 38: No. 14, Valse. Ma mie qui danse - Presto
Piotr Anderszewski plays piano works by three Central European composers: Bartók, Janáček, and Szymanowski, all of whom drew inspiration from the musical traditions of their homelands. Filmed at the École normale de musique de Paris-Alfred-Cortot. Video by Deyan Parouchev. Credit: Warner Classics
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1, Bagatelles op.126 - Piano: Piotr Anderszewski, Orchestra: Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen Credit: Warner Classics
Piotr Anderszewski plays Schumann
Piotr speaks about two pieces he admires by Schumann: Studien für den pedalflügel Op. 56 & Gesänge der frühe Op. 133 Credit: Piotr Anderszewski
Photos
News
Press
Solo Recital: Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok and Bach
The BarbicanOct 2024★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This programme made largely of miniatures was one to treasure. Anderszewski is a remarkable pianist – no note is out of place, no chord not perfectly balanced ... even by Anderszewski’s meticulous standards it was an exceptional event. Anderszewski’s ability to crystallise a whole expressive world in microcosm was extraordinary The 14 Bartók Bagatelles ... were presented as vivid snapshots, glistening and utterly clear. The Chopin mazurka that followed as an encore, Op 59 no 2, might have belonged to another world altogether, yet in its own way it was just as remarkable.
- Andrew Clements, The Guardian
- 04 October 2024
Solo Recital in Singapore
Victoria Concert HallMay 2024Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski has always been held in high esteem by connoisseurs for the piercing intelligence of his musicianship and the sensitivity of his playing. On the evidence of this re-cital, his extraordinary talents remain as strong as ever. It was clear from the outset that this recital was about the music, not the performer. All in all, a marvellous, moving recital from one of the world's most quietly brilliant performers.
- Geoffrey Lim, The Straits Times (Singapore)
- 04 May 2024
Solo Recital
BarbicanNov 2023Performing his usual suspects of Bach, Szymanowski, Webern and Beethoven, he exhibited total control over and feel for the programme. He has previously recorded almost all of these works, and visibly knows them like the backs of his – very competent – hands. Anderszewski is completely in the moment and alive to every nuance in each piece, creating an electrifying evening.
- Susannah Moody, bachtrack
- 06 November 2023
Solo Recital
BarbicanNov 2023★★★★☆ The Polish pianist is an understated presence but in his hands, a programme that also included Bach, Webern and Szymanowski, was muscular and full of ferocious energy amid meticulous playing.
- Flora Willson, The Guardian
- 03 November 2023
Bartók - City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall BirminghamMar 2020Anderszewski declaimed his opening melody as if improvising; the movement that followed was a thing of clear edges, bold primary colours and a Mozartian sense of proportion, vividly articulated by a particularly plangent-sounding woodwind section and Anderszewski’s way of admitting just the tiniest suggestion of a lift at the end of a phrase. In the Adagio religioso, too, Wellber gently teased out the texture of the opening string chorale – so often played at a breathless, homogenous whisper, but here very much alive and moving, with the cellos and basses softly tugging the music forward. The stillness that surrounded Anderszewski’s responses was all the more profound because of it: he placed lucid, luminous chords directly into the silence as if he was setting jewels into snow.
- Richard Bratby, The Arts Desk
- 11 March 2020
Haydn / Schumann - Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Queen's Hall EdinburghOct 2019...Anderszewski’s mellifluous playing ran through the texture like a band of gold.
- Simon Thompson, The Times
- 26 October 2019
Haydn / Schumann - Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Queen's Hall EdinburghOct 2019Anderszewski masterminded two keyboard concertos: Haydn’s chirpy Concerto in D, written with all the nimble delicacy befitting its intended execution on fortepiano or harpsichord; and the sweeping Romantic brushstrokes of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor
- Kev Walton, The Scotsman
- 29 October 2019
Solo Recital
Muziekgebouw AmsterdamJan 2024Zijn Bach is authentiek in de ware zin des woords, vormgegeven vanuit de weerklank die Bachs noten vinden in zijn eigen ziel, meer romantisch dan barok, meer zingend dan hamerend, fenomenaal in zijn heldere stemvoering, ontroerend door de expressieve en zangerige klank van de elegant in elkaar overvloeiende frases. ‘His Bach is authentic in the true sense of the word, designed from the resonance that Bach's notes find in his own soul, more romantic than baroque, more singing than hammering, phenomenal in his clear voicing, moving by the expressive and lilting sound of the elegantly flowing phrases.’ Anderszewski zette Bachs geniale noten uiteen in monumentale overpeinzingen en levendige dansbewegingen, waaraan hij door het natuurlijke verloop van zijn rubato en het aanbrengen van subtiele dynamische schakeringen een fascinerende dieptewerking verleende. ‘Anderszewski expounded Bach's brilliant notes in monumental reflections and lively dance movements, to which he added fascinating depth through the natural progression of his rubato and the application of subtle dynamic shades.’ Het metafysische verlangen naar het ontsluiten van nieuwe muzikale horizonnen maakt ook Anderszewski, om Monsaingeon te citeren, tot ‘een van de boeiendste musici van deze tijd. '‘The metaphysical desire to open up new musical horizons also makes Anderszewski, to quote Monsaingeon, 'one of the most fascinating musicians of our time'.’
- Wenneke Savenije, De Nieuwe Muze
- 22 January 2024