Lars Vogt enjoyed a meteoric rise after capturing second prize at the 1990 Leeds International Piano Competition. He has managed to straddle two worlds in the process, that of soloist/recitalist and that of chamber player. He has regularly appeared with front-rank orchestras across the globe and on the recital stages at major venues, while founding a chamber music festival and making numerous recordings devoted to chamber works.
Vogt's taste in repertory is unusually broad, taking in not only the German sphere (
Haydn,
Mozart,
Beethoven) but also a veritable potpourri (
Dvorák,
Saint-Saëns,
Stravinsky) as well as contemporary composers (
Erkki-Sven Tüür, Volker David Kirchner). He possesses a powerful technique and a chameleonic interpretive persona that together allow him to capture the subtleties and negotiate the challenges presented by this vast array of composers.
Vogt was born in the German town of Düren on September 8, 1970. He studied piano in Achen with Ruth Weiss and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. After his victory at the 1990 Leeds Competition,
Vogt launched his international career, touring throughout Europe and eventually the Americas and Asia. His first recording was an acclaimed 1992 EMI album of works by
Haydn,
Schubert,
Brahms, and
Lachenmann. A
Haydn piano sonata release followed in 1994, as well as several others later in the decade. In the new century,
Vogt has made a spate of successful recordings, many in the chamber genre.
The impetus for much of his chamber activity dates to his 1998 founding of the Spannungen Festival, where he has served as artistic director.
Vogt has recorded numerous albums with musicians appearing at the event, held every June in Heimbach. He has collaborated with violinist
Christian Tetzlaff in the
Brahms sonatas, with clarinetist
Sabine Meyer in
Brahms and
Berg works, and with cellist
Boris Pergamenschikov in
Brahms and
Schumann fare.
In the early 2000s,
Vogt developed a close relationship with the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor
Simon Rattle, becoming the group's first-ever pianist-in-residence. In that capacity, he appeared in five concerts.
Vogt secured his first orchestral directorship post in 2015 when he became the music director of the
Royal Northern Sinfonia. He remained in this position until 2020 but has continued his association with the orchestra as principal artistic partner. That year, he became the music director of the
Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. In 2021,
Vogt was diagnosed with cancer and has been open about his condition, describing how he has continued to play piano throughout, even during treatments, and found comfort in the solo piano music of
Brahms. The following year,
Vogt joined his daughter, Isabelle, for the album Schumann, R. Strauss: Melodramas, and he led the
Orchestre de Chambre de Paris from the keyboard on a recording of
Mendelssohn works for piano and orchestra. ~ Robert Cummings