The Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz is celebrated worldwide for his profound, virtuoso interpretations. His career began in 2005 with an outstanding first prize at the 15th Warsaw Chopin Competition. He is also the winner of the 2014 Gilmore Artist Award, one of the most prestigious piano music prizes in the world. Rafał Blechacz regularly performs with the world’s major orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, as well as many others. He also gives solo recitals in the most famous concert halls from Berlin to New York and from Milan to Tokyo.

This sought-after pianist will open the 2024/25 season with Kent Nagano and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg. He will also be performing with the SWR Symphonieorchester, the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and the Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, as well as touring Japan and China. As a chamber musician, the piano virtuoso will be focusing on his duo with violinist Bomsori Kim. Rafał Blechacz is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist and his recordings have received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik and the Diapason d’or. Blechacz’s latest recording of works by Frédéric Chopin was released in March 2023.

Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered performance on historical instruments with ›The English Concert‹, the orchestra which he founded in 1972  nd led for the next thirty years. He now divides his time between conducting, solo, chamber music and educational projects.

Recent conducting highlights include Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchester, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest.

Trevor brought Purcell’s ›Dido & Aeneas‹ and Theatre Music to the Wigmore Hall where later in the season 2015/16 he will also perform chamber music by Purcell, Corelli and Handel with Sophie Gent, Matthew Truscott and Jonathan Manson. He will also give solo recitals including music by Johann Jakob Froberger and Louis Couperin.

Recordings to be released this season include a solo recital ›Journey – 200 years of harpsichord music‹ as well as the Mozart ›Gran Partita‹ for winds and a Haydn ›Notturno‹ with the Royal  Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble. Trevor’s work at the Royal Academy of Music also  includes orchestral concerts as Principal Guest Conductor of the Concert Orchestra and opera projects.