
Charles Richard-Hamelin is one of the most eminent Canadian pianists of his generation, renowned for his playing of rare emotional depth and technical subtlety. His career, marked by a series of prestigious distinctions, places him among the great performers of the international music scene. This duality of emotional power and technical finesse has earned him unanimous recognition the world over. He distinguished himself right from his debut, in 2015, when he won the Silver Medal at the Frédéric-Chopin International Piano Competition and the Krystian Zimerman Prize in Warsaw. This major recognition marked a turning point in his career.
He has been a guest at major festivals such as La Roque d'Anthéron and the Festival Nohant in France, the Prague Spring Festival, the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw, the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Lanaudière Festival, Domaine Forget and Orford Musique, He has performed with many ensembles, including the major Canadian symphony orchestras (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Métropolitain, Québec, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver), as well as the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Korean Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with conductors including Kent Nagano, Rafael Payare, Bernard Labadie, Antoni Wit, Vasily Petrenko, Jacek Kaspszyk, Peter Oundjian, Fabien Gabel, John Storgårds, Alexander Prior, Otto Tausk, Kazuki Yamada and Jonathan Cohen. Charles Richard-Hamelin is also active as a chamber musician.
In this capacity, he has appeared in concert with Ema Nikolovska, Andrew Wan, James Ehnes, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Marc-André Hamelin, the Dover Quartet, the New Orford Quartet, the Apollon Musagète Quartet and the Meccore Quartet, among others Charles Richard-Hamelin has released twelve albums on the Analekta (Outhere Music) label – including a recording of the Chopin concertos with the OSM conducted by Kent Nagano; all enthusiastically received by music critics worldwide. Charles Richard-Hamelin has established himself as a major interpreter on the international music scene, combining emotion, virtuosity and elegance in every performance.
On the picture Charles Richard-Hamelin, photo by Elizabeth Delage