In 2003 French-Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin was honoured to be made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Born in Montreal, he studied at the Vincent d'Indy School of Music and Temple University in Philadelphia where he now lives. His principal teachers were Yvonne Hubert, Harvey Wedeen and Russell Sherman.

Well established in both North America and Europe, Marc-André Hamelin has given recitals in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, Birmingham, Bremen, Costa Mesa California, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Mexico City, Milan, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Philadelphia, Quèbec, San Juan Puerto Rico, De Doelen Rotterdam, Tallinn, Toronto, Vienna, Washington and Warsaw. Festival appearances have included Bad Kissingen, Belfast, Cervantino, Echternach, La Grange de Meslay, Husum Piano Rarities, Lanaudière, Ravinia, La Roque d'Anthéron, Ruhr Piano, Scotia (Halifax), Singapore Piano, Snape Maltings Proms, Turku, Vienna and Ottawa Strings of the Future, as well as the Chopin Festivals of Bagatelles (Paris), Duszniki and Valldemossa. Following the success of his 1994 Wigmore Hall series Virtuoso Romantics, Marc-André Hamelin appears regularly in both the Wigmore Hall Masterconcert Series and the International Piano Series at London's South Bank Centre. He plays annually in the Herkulessaal in Munich and has given a series of six recitals in Tokyo entitled '200 Years of Pianism with Marc-André Hamelin'.

Recent concerto performances have included appearances with the orchestras of BBC Symphony, BBC Scotland, Basel, Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Lahti, Montreal, Netherlands Radio, NAC Ottawa, Philadelphia, Polish National Radio, Quebec, Royal Concertgebouw, Swedish Radio, Toronto, Turku, Vancouver and Ulster, as well as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Les Violons du Roy. Conductors Marc-André Hamelin has worked with include Matthias Bamert, Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Dennis Russell Davies, Christoph Eschenbach, Günther Herbig, Manfred Honeck, Pavel Kogan, Ion Marin, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Vassili Sinaisky, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Leonard Slatkin, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Bramwell Tovey, Osmo Vanska, Hans Vonk, Hugh Wolff and David Zinman.

Under his exclusive contract with Hyperion, Marc-André Hamelin's eclectic recordings range from concertos by Alkan, Bernstein, Bolcom, Henselt, Korngold, Joseph Marx, Shchedrin and Shostakovich to solo discs of Alkan, Catoire, Godowsky, Grainger, Kapustin, Liszt, Ornstein, Reger, Roslavets, Rzewski, Schumann, Szymanowski, Villa Lobos, the complete sonatas of both Medtner & Scriabin, and 'The Composer-Pianists' (from Alkan to Hamelin). His recording of the complete Godowsky Studies on Chopin's Études won the 2000 Gramophone Instrumental Award.

Marc-André Hamelin's recording of the epic Busoni Concerto with the CBSO under Mark Elder received resounding critical acclaim. To date he has performed this work with the Dallas & Lahti Symphony Orchestras; L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; the CBSO (in Birmingham & at the Bolzano Festival); and the Tokyo Philharmonic, which was the Japanese première.

In early 2004 Marc-André Hamelin returned to the Far East to play with the Tokyo Philharmonic conducted by Okko Kamu, to give a recital in Seoul and to make his debut at the Hong Kong Arts Festival playing two concertos with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and a solo recital. Current and forthcoming concerto engagements include performances with the Bournemouth, Montreal, Utah & Winnipeg Symphony; as well as the Helsinki, London & Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestras. He is invited to give recitals in Bamberg, Basel, Nijmegen, San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington's National Gallery & Zurich; and returns to Kaiserslautern, New York's Columbia University, Montreal, Philadelphia, Toronto, Wels and the Wigmore Hall, where he plays Iberia. Festival appearances include Brescia e Bergamo, Reykjavik, Schwetzingen & Weimar as well as the Ottawa & Santa Fé Chamber Music Festivals.

In Spring 2003 Swedish Television transmitted a profile of Marc-André Hamelin; an accolade rarely accorded to an overseas artist.

Contact details and further information

For further details, see Georgina Ivor Associates

Representation: Georgina Ivor Associates,
28 Old Devonshire Road
London SW12 9RB
UK

Telephone: + 44 (020) 8673 7179
Fax: + 44 (020) 8675 8058

E-mail: Representative

Georgina Ivor
Becky Farrar