Alexander Lonquich
Born in Trier, Germany, Alexander Lonquich won First prize at the Casagrande Competition dedicated to Schubert in 1977. Since then, he has performed in Japan, the United States, and the major musical centres of Europe. Throughout his career he has collaborated with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Kurt Sanderling, Ton Koopman, Emmanuel Krivine, Heinz Holliger, and Marc Minkowski. Particularly significant has been his long-standing relationship with Sándor Végh and the Camerata Salzburg, of which he continues to be a regular guest as both conductor and soloist.
Chamber music also plays a central role in his artistic career. Alexander Lonquich has collaborated with internationally renowned musicians including Christian Tetzlaff, Nicolas Altstaedt, Vilde Frang, Joshua Bell, Heinrich Schiff, Steven Isserlis, Isabelle Faust, Carolin Widmann, Jörg Widmann, Boris Pergamenschikov, Heinz Holliger, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.
He has received numerous international awards, including the “Diapason d’Or”, the “Premio Abbiati” (Best soloist in 2016), and the Edison Award in the Netherlands. In 2003, Alexander Lonquich formed a piano duo with his wife, Cristina Barbuti, performing in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, and the United States.
He also frequently appears as both pianist and fortepianist, performing repertoire ranging from C.P.E. Bach to Schumann and Chopin. Together with Philippe Herreweghe, he recorded Chopin’s Piano Concert in F minor on an Erard piano for the Frederick Chopin Institute. As conductor and soloist, Alexander Lonquich has maintained a long-standing collaboration with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, with which he undertook an extensive project devoted to the complete Mozart piano concertos. He has also worked with ensembles including the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Camerata Salzburg, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.
A particularly notable project took place in spring 2009 with the Italian National Symphony Orchestra of RAI, presenting Schubert’s complete symphonies alongside Beethoven’s piano concertos over five separate concerts. He performs regularly with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, with which he has also collaborated as conductor and soloist since the 2011/12 season.
Alexander Lonquich also maintains an extensive international concert career. He was “Artist in Residence” with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra during the 2015/16 season and again at the 2017 Prague Spring Festival, where he appeared also both as soloist and conductor with the Camerata Salzburg. He is a regular guest at major international festivals, including the Schubertiade, Lockenhaus, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Beethovenfest Bonn, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, and Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker.
Highlights of the 2020/21 season included recital appearances in Stresa (Settimane Musicali Festival), Florence, Milan, Palermo, Paris, Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), the Schwetzingen Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, to name a few, together with orchestral collaborations with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Münchener Kammerorchester, and an Italian tour with the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova presenting Beethoven’s complete piano concertos. He also appeared at the Brescia and Bergamo International Piano Festival in both recital and orchestral performances.
Following recordings for EMI dedicated to Mozart, Schumann, and Schubert, he began collaborating with ECM, recording works by Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn and a programme of early twentieth-century French piano music including Fauré’s Impromptus, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, and Messiaen’s Préludes. He subsequently recorded Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Heinz Holliger’s Partita, and an album devoted entirely to Schubert with Carolin Widmann for the same label. His 2018 double album Schubert 1828, released by Alpha Classics and featuring the Piano Sonatas D958, D959, and D960, received outstanding critical acclaim and was awarded the prestigious “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2019”. In 2020, Alpha Classics released a double album recorded with Nicolas Altstaedt containing Beethoven’s complete Sonatas for Cello and Piano together with the Variations.
Alongside his international performing career, Alexander Lonquich has devoted considerable energy to teaching, giving masterclasses throughout Europe, the United States, and Australia. He has also collaborated with the Accademia Pianistica di Imola, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the Hochschule für Musik Köln.
Since 2014, he has served as Chief Conductor of the OTO – Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, where he performs each season as both conductor and soloist, contributing to the development of young musicians and the expansion of the orchestra’s repertoire.
In September 2020, Alexander Lonquich was appointed Artistic Director of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.
Since 2013, together with his wife Cristina, he has also created Kantoratelier in their home in Florence, an intimate performance space where his longstanding interests in psychology, music, and theatre are explored through workshops, seminars, and concerts.