Alice Sara Ott

Equipped with impressive technique and sensitive musicality, the German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott is one of the world's leading interpreters, as reflected in her more than 500 million streams. Her poetic piano playing, praised by critics for its perfection and intensity, has drawn comparisons to great artists of the past. Her innovative approach to programming and openness to artistic experimentation also receive sustained applause. Ott's music-making is guided by the desire to capture the essence of the works in her repertoire, stemming from her ability to unfold a wide spectrum of emotions and creative ideas in each performance. Alice Sara Ott signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon in 2008. She made her debut with the yellow label the following year with a highly acclaimed recording of Liszt's Etudes d’exécution transcendante. Her second album, Chopin's complete waltzes, was released in January 2010. Her debut orchestral recording – the first piano concertos by Liszt and Tchaikovsky with the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Thomas Hengelbrock – earned her the 2010 Echo Klassik Award as "Young Artist of the Year." Her August 2011 recording of the Waldstein Sonata and other Beethoven works was followed in January 2013 by the album Pictures, featuring live recordings from St. Petersburg of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 17 in D major, D. 850. In the same month, Ott released a recording of works by Clara Schumann with violinist Lisa Batiashvili. September 2014 saw the release of the album Scandale with Francesco Tristano, which includes Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps in the composer's version for piano duo, among other pieces. Two years later came Wonderland, in which she performs Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, as well as a selection of Grieg's Lyric Pieces for solo piano. The album Nightfall was released in August 2018 and coincided with the ten-year anniversary of her partnership with the yellow label. In it, Ott subtly explores light and shadow in works by Debussy, Satie, and Ravel. Her next album, Echoes Of Life, was released in August 2021. In it, Ott performed Chopin's Préludes op. 28 framed by seven contemporary compositions: world premiere recordings of Ott's own Lullaby To Eternity and Francesco Tristano's Bach-inspired In the Beginning Was, as well as works by Chilly Gonzales, György Ligeti, Tōru Takemitsu, Nino Rota, and Arvo Pärt. Echoes Of Life – Deluxe Edition followed in October 2023, with eleven newly recorded tracks (by J. S. Bach, Field, Chopin, Valentin Silvestrov, and Chilly Gonzales) complementing the original album. In spring 2023, Ott became the face of the Apple Music Classical app, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Karina Canellakis in the opening video. The recording of the concerto was the main work of her next album, Beethoven, where it stands alongside a series of solo pieces such as Für Elise and the Moonlight Sonata. Beethoven was released in September 2023 and received enthusiastic reviews ("Beethoven comes alive through Ott's at times fascinating interpretation. She approaches the first solo of the concerto with a wink, as if immediately making the piece her own" – Gramophone). Ott's latest album, featuring all of John Field's Nocturnes, who is considered the father of the genre, will be released on February 7, 2025. Her interpretations of these 18 intimate, introspective pieces offer a new and remarkable understanding of the music. Later that year, an album of atmospheric piano works by Jóhann Jóhannsson, recorded in Iceland, will also be released. Highlights of the 2024/25 season include the French, Belgian, Dutch, and German premieres of Bryce Dessner's Piano Concerto in Paris (November 8), Brussels (November 24), Eindhoven (December 6), and Munich (January 15, 2025). Ott will also perform the concerto, composed for her, in Utrecht during her residency at TivoliVredenburg (December 8) and at the Berlin Philharmonie (March 28/29, 2025). "An outstanding soloist," judged The Guardian, "stunning in the music's more extreme virtuoso passages, full of feeling in moments of delicate calm." Following the release of the Field album, Ott will embark on a recital tour across Europe, performing the Nocturnes combined with Beethoven sonatas in 17 cities (February/March). Towards the end of the season, she will tour Japan with the same program, where she will also perform with Karina Canellakis and the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra. Before that, she will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in the USA with the Minnesota Orchestra under Jonathan Heyward (May 30/31) and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck (June 6-8). Residencies at London's South Bank Centre and Radio France in Paris; an appearance at Berlin's Pop Kudamm as part of the DG Yellow Lounge (October); an extensive Asian tour (China, Hong Kong, and Japan) with the Echoes Of Life program and Hakan Demirel's immersive installations (November/December); the world premiere of Bryce Dessner's Piano Concerto in Zurich with the Tonhalle Orchestra and Kent Nagano (January 18, 2024) and further performances of the work in Paris (February 9) and Cincinnati (May 3 and 4); Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in Birmingham and on tour in Germany and Slovenia with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Kazuki Yamada (February 21, March 6-16); and her debut with the New York Philharmonic, performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major (April 4). Alice Sara Ott was born in Munich in 1988 to a German father and a Japanese mother. Her love for the piano was sparked when she attended a recital with her parents at the age of three, and she received her first lessons the following year. In 2008, she achieved significant success when she stepped in at short notice for Murray Perahia for a recital in Basel. Over the past decade, she has worked with many top-tier conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Myung-Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Edward Gardner, Pablo Heras-Casado, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Sir Antonio Pappano, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Yuri Temirkanov, Robin Ticciati, and Osmo Vänskä. In addition to her work in the concert hall and recording studio, Alice Sara Ott has forged strong relationships with several leading international companies. These include Technics, Panasonic's Hi-Fi audio brand, and JOST Bags (Germany), for whom she created a special high-end line of leather bags, in addition to Apple Music. She has also collaborated closely with the French jewelry company Chaumet, part of the LVMH Group, and the German jeweler Wempe. With her commitment to making classical music accessible to the widest possible audience, Alice Sara Ott has introduced many people to the concert hall for the first time and opened up unfamiliar repertoire to countless others. "I want to dispel the notion that classical music is only for rich, educated people," she explains. "It's not. You don't have to be educated to enjoy classical music. But it contributes to education when you listen to it." 10/2024